Thunderclan Book 1: Rays of Hope
by Mystic Midnight Rose
Summary: Is she breathing?" he repeated his question when no one answered it. "I don't know! It'd be best if we get her back to camp now! It won't make a difference any more! If she stays here, she will die anyway!" Dewcloud yowled above the thunder and wind.
1. Allegiances

**Thunderclan:**

Leader: Lightningstar – all black tom with a yellow stripe down his back and green eyes, fierce and determined

Apprentice: Sparkpaw

Deputy: Silvermist- silver tabby she-cat with bright blue eyes, sweet but can be strict

Apprentice: Sagepaw

Medicine Cat: Dewcloud- silvery gray she-cat with green eyes, kind and caring for all with lots of patience, will be retirering soon

Apprentice: Ashpelt

**Warriors:**

Dawnflower-grey and brown she-cat with amber eyes, kind and quiet

Honeyheart-yellow orange she-cat with amber eyes, fierce fighter but can be very bitter

Cloverleaf-white she-cat with brown splotches and green eyes, sweet and small

Duskmoon- grey tom with blue-grey eyes, great with kits but strict

Apprentice: Moonpaw

Pebblepath-grey tom with orange eyes, very tempermental

Blackwhisper-black tom with blue eyes, harsh but loyal to his leader

Icefire-pure white she-cat with soft blue eyes, fierce fighter but great with young cats

Apprentice: Echopaw

Bearpelt-brown tom with amber eyes, quiet and calm

Apprentice: Foxpaw

Brackenpelt-multi-colored brown tom with brown eyes, fierce fighter and great with kits

Apprentice: Icepaw

Shadowbreeze-grey tom with white tip of tail and dark blue eyes, helpful and loyal

Apprentice: Fernpaw

Wolfheart-all grey tom with yellow eyes, loyal and fierce

Apprentice: Oceanpaw

Swiftfur-brown and grey molted tabby with amber eyes, great hunter and calm

Jaybreeze-grey tom with white chin and chest and blue eyes, calm but can have a temper

Apprentice: Shadowpaw

Marki-grey she-cat with blue eyes, originally a kittypet, very loyal and caring

Apprentice: Cinderpaw

**Queens:**

Moonblossom-grey she-cat with petite white paws and blue eyes, sweet and caring for all kits, awaiting kits

Dreamcloud- pretty mostly grey calico she-cat with soft green eyes, stays in the nursery full-time, mother of Snowkit and Whitekit

Mistcloud-silvery grey she-cat with soft blue eyes, loving and loyal to her clan and mate, Wolfheart

Ivystream-brown white and red she-cat with amber eyes, alert hunter, awaiting kits

Raintear-black she-cat with light blue eyes, very caring and loves kits, mother of Shrewkit

Roseblossom-calico she-cat with green eyes, plays with all kits and loves them as her own, mother of Redkit and Lilykit

**Apprentices:**

Fernpaw-brown tabby she-cat with green eyes, kind and quiet

Sparkpaw-black tom with orange dot and yellow eyes, determined and boastful

Ashpelt-grey tom with green eyes, medicine cat apprentice quiet and dedicated

Moonpaw-silvery grey she-cat with shimmering blue eyes, sweet and quiet

Cinderpaw-grey she-cat with soft green eyes, oldest apprentice with her brother Foxpaw

Foxpaw-red tom with amber-yellow eyes, dedicated and loyal

Oceanpaw-white she-cat with grey paws and blue eyes, calm and quiet

Sagepaw- brown and black tom with yellow eyes, determined and loyal

Echopaw-silver she-cat with silvery-grey eyes, quiet, determined, and caring

Mosspaw-brown tabby she-cat with green eyes, playful but does her best

Icepaw-pure white she-cat with soft blue eyes, enthusiastic and caring

Shadowpaw-grey tom with green eyes, energetic and determined

**Elders:**

Silverstorm-silver she-cat with green eyes, had to retire early due to blindness

Nightdust-brown tabby tom with amber-yellow eyes, calm and quiet

Batclaw-grey tom with blue eyes, cranky, oldest cat of all clans

**Windclan:**

**Leader: **Russetstar-brown she-cat with grey stripes and amber eyes, strict but has a soft spot for kits

**Deputy: **Sparrowflight- molted brown she-cat with strange yellow eyes and green around pupil, dedicated and loyal

**Medicine Cat: **Raypelt-grey tom with brown flecks and green eyes, kind but can be grumpy

**Warriors:**

Lilyfrost-golden brown she-cat with blue eyes, fierce fighter and spirited

Brackenhawk-brown tom with white spots and yellow eyes, strict and rough

Bluesong-she-cat with dark blue-grey fur with green eyes, sweet but great hunter

Weedfang- brown and white tom with amber eyes, grumpy and rude

Loudpelt- grey and brown tom with green eyes, kind and understanding

Blackwhisker-all black tom with silvery eyes, kind and dedicated

Darktangle- deep brown tom with black paws and tail and amber eyes, rough and harsh

Sunpelt-golden brown tom with amber eyes, helpful and loyal

**Queens:**

Rosewhisper-light grey she-cat with small white paws and light blue eyes, kind to all

Snowstream-white she-cat with grey paws and green eyes, sweet and helpful

**Apprentices:**

Daisypaw-cream and honey colored she-cat with soft amber eyes, kind and intelligent

Creekpaw-grey she-cat with white chest and paws and green eyes, enthusiastic and determined

Thrushpaw-brown and grey tom with amber eyes, quiet and dedicated

Thornpaw-grey and black tom with yellow eyes, grumpy but loyal

Skypaw-grey tom with blue eyes, boastful and loyal

**Elders:**

Stonewater-grey tom with one blue and one green eye, kind and helpful

Thrushpelt-brown tom with yellow eyes, grumpy and rough

**Riverclan:**

**Leader: **Featherstar-grey with green eyes, soft but determined leader

**Deputy: **Foxpelt-dark red tom with orange eyes, harsh but fair

**Medicine Cat: **Doveheart- cream and white with orange eyes, kind and calm

Apprentice: Honeypaw

**Warriors:**

Lakemist-black, brown, and grey she-cat with amber eyes, kind and understanding

Leafspiral-black and grey she-cat with green eyes, calm and attentive

Snowpath-white and grey tom with amber eyes, rough but calm

Spottedfeather-tawny colored she-cat with orange eyes, strict but caring

Pondfoot-dark blue and grey tom with deep green eyes, quiet and fierce

Owlpelt-white and brown tom with yellow eyes, alert and loyal

Mousefang- dark brown she-cat with yellow orange eyes, calm but tough

Wildclaw-brown and black she-cat with green eyes, kind but rough

**Queens:**

Snowpool- white she-cat with one grey paw and green eyes, sweet and kind

Frostwhisper, grey and white she-cat with dark blue eyes, loving and caring

Lightdust-orange, yellow, and grey she-cat with amber eyes, stays in nursery all the time

**Apprentices:**

Stormpaw- dark grey and black tom with yellow eyes, rough but kind

Russetpaw- brown and grey she-cat with amber eyes, grumpy and tough

Snowpaw-white and silver she-cat with blue eyes, sweet and attentive

Bouncepaw-grey tom with blue eyes, energetic and determined

Honeypaw-yellow gold she-cat with amber eyes, sweet and determined, training to be a medicine cat

**Elders:**

Volepelt- brown tom with green eyes, kind and calm

Flametooth-dark red and brown tom with yellow eyes, kind but strict

**Shadowclan:**

**Leader:** Darkstar-brown and black tom with amber eyes, rough but quiet

**Deputy:** Wildfang-brown and grey tom with orange eyes, round and tempermental

**Medicine Cat: **Creekmist-grey and black she-cat with dark blue eyes, kind and caring

**Warriors:**

Scarpath-black and orange tom with amber eyes, scarred and rough

Deadsong-brown tom with green eyes, grumpy and rude

Crowpelt-black and grey she-cat with orange eyes, loves kits but can be rude

Bearfang-brown tom with green eyes, understanding but rough

Redwhisper-dark red tom with orange eyes, caring but easily annoyed

Tawnyfur-tawny she-cat with green eyes, kind and caring but a bit rough

Batfur-dark grey tom with amber eyes, grumpy and complains a lot

Thistleclaw-brown, grey, and white she-cat with yellow eyes, understanding and rough

Whitefang-white, yellow, and orange she-cat with amber eyes, rough and rude

**Queens:**

Midnightshadow-black she-cat with green eyes, caring and loyal

**Apprentices:**

Berrypaw-cream and grey tom with amber eyes, determined and rude

Birdpaw-small brown and black she-cat with green eyes, enthusiastic and energetic

Mudpaw-dark brown and grey tom with orange eyes, rough and energetic

**Elders:**

Tanglelegs-brown and white tom with yellow eyes, caring but grumpy


	2. Prolouge

It was a cold night in Thunderclan territory. Snow was falling so thickly that the lost light gray she-cat couldn't see the tree that was only a couple tail-lengths away. As she gazed into the snow storm, which would have been beautiful if she were not helplessly lost in it, her confusion turned to dawning terror. She had simply gone hunting for her clan when the snow started coming down faster and faster until when she finally decided she should return to the camp she went in circles. She stumbled around in the thickening layer of snow until finally she came across pine tree with little snow under it. She lay down, exhausted, and fell into a deep sleep.

When she awoke she looked around and to her dismay saw only the snow walls that surrounded the pine tree. She was too weak to climb the tree, as the supply of food had been so small in the camp. She had known not to go out, but she had to help her clanmates. Now she had no idea where she was, or even if she was on her own territory anymore. She let out a loud mew of distress. Above her she heard the flutter of wings as a crow flew away. Food. She had scared away prey that could of helped to feed her clan, if she ever got out.

She started pawing at the snow. It was bitter cold beneath her paws. She worked and worked at scrapping snow all day until the only light coming through the canopy of the tree was a dull gray. She decided it would be better too try and make a warm nest for the night, so she scraped all of the snow off the pine needles and then gathered them up against the moss that covered the tree.

Beneath the ground that she had cleared off she saw the earth rise and fall. She crept along, setting her paws down as lightly as she could. Then she pounced, digging the dirt up until she brushed against fur. She flung the creature out of the hole and struck a quick bite at its neck. Then she lay the body of a vole down at the base of the pine tree and examined it. It was scrawny, but at least it was food that would feed her clan, if she ever got out of her snow imprison, she thought with a sigh

She heard her stomach howl for food and looked at the tempting vole. No, she thought. She had better save it in case she didn't get out soon. She went back to making her nest. Then as the last light of day faded, she lay down and went into an uneasy sleep.



Back at the Thunderclan camp, an all black cat with a yellow streak like lightning down his back looked up as another gray cat entered the den.

"Well?" he implied. "Did you find her?" The other cat looked away guiltily.

"I'm sorry, Lightningstar. There was no sign of her anywhere."

"It's alright." Lightningstar sighed. "I know that you tried. There wasn't much hope to begin with. Wolfheart will be broken when we tell him though." He had sent out search parties all day to look for Mistdust. Mistdust had disappeared from the nursery the night before. The snow had been too heavy to search then, but it had stopped by the morning. Every cat knew that Mistdust's kits were expected to come soon, but she was also very loyal and wanted to help her clan.

Wolfheart, her mate, had gone on every patrol to look for her, but Dewcloud, the Thunderclan medicine cat, had refused to let him go on the last patrol of the day. He had protested at first, but then his paws had collapsed beneath him from exhaustion and numbness and had stopped arguing.

"We do have some good news though." The other cat broke his thoughts.

"Well, what is it?" Any good sign or news would be greatly welcomed in his clan.

"The prey was rousing from their burrows for food on the way back. Our patrol caught a vole, a thrush, and a sparrow. They are stringy, but they will still help. And Marki said that when she lived with her twolegs they would throw seeds out on to the snow for the birds. She suggests we try looking near the twoleg yards for hungry birds."

"I shall send an early patrol out in the morning, when the birds are awakening. As for the prey that was caught, take some to the elders, some to Dewcloud and Ashpaw, and then the rest to the nursery. I suppose I'll have to go and break the news to Wolfheart now. Thank you, Shadowbreeze." Lightningstar watched as Shadowbreeze exited his den then got up. He knew that he could send out no more patrols because of the fact that the sun had set and a bitter coldness was spreading across the clearing, and that even if by some miracle Mistdust was alive, the snow around her would turn to ice that night. As he went to inform Wolfheart of the sad news, he recalled the prophecy that had come to him in a dream a few moon ago, when the days were warm and there was plenty of prey.

He had been standing on the edge of a cliff in his dream and the wind was whispering to him. He looked down and saw mist swirling into what seemed like nothingness. All of the sudden he heard the howl of a wolf and looked up. There was a wolf standing out on a ledge across from him. All of the sudden the rock beneath the creature broke and the wolf plummeted down toward the mist. When the wolf hit the mist a flash of light appeared and spread as far as he could see, engulfing him until he was falling into the pit of brilliant light. As he fell a voice seemed to whisper in his ear saying, "And power like the kin of his kin will be unleashed upon your clan".

The dream had confused him then, but now it made perfect sense. And as he went to the warriors den, he thought he heard a howl on the wind that seeped through his body until all the heat felt like it had been sucked from him.

And deep within the Thunderclan territory, Mistdust heard it too.


	3. Chapter 1

"Give it here!!" Icekit opened her eyes to see her brother Shadowkit and her sister Echokit tossing a ball of moss around. She got up and stretched, waking up her sister Mosskit while doing so.

"What's going on? Can I play?" Icekit yelled. She got up and jumped over to them, followed more slowly by Mosskit.

"Hey! Throw it to us!" Icekit pounced on Shadowkit and Mosskit took the ball of moss from him. Shadowkit kicked up at Icekit and she flew up and landed in the ferns that surrounded the nursery.

"What's going on here? Icekit, are you alright?" Their mother, Mistcloud, appeared from inside of the nursery. "You know that you shouldn't play so roughly, and you woke up Roseblossom and her kits!" They could hear mewing coming from the nursery now.

"I'm alright. And we're really sorry about waking up Roseblossom's kits!" Icekit mewed.

"Yeah, it's just that everything here is so boring!" Echokit added.

"That's still no excuse!" Mistcloud said. "Here, let's try something new. You can have your first fresh kill." Squeals of excitement burst out from the kits. Now go and get some, and bring some back for all the queens."

"Yay!"

"Okay!"

"Sure!"

"What are we waiting for? Let's go!"

Mosskit, Icekit, Shadowkit, and Echokit raced to the fresh kill pile, and the warriors by it scattered quickly.

"What should I get?"

"Maybe this fat vole!"

"Or this sparrow!"

"I think I'll get this mouse."

"I wonder what they taste like."

"We can try a bite of each other's."

"Alright then we'll each get something different."

"I'll get the vole!"

"Fine if I get the thrush!"

"I got the mouse!"

"I call the sparrow!"

"Okay, come on let's go back!"

"Now wait a moment," a voice broke their thoughts. "I thought that you four were also told to bring some back for the other queens."

"Oh, yeah! Thanks Brackenpelt!"

"No problem. Here, let me help." He picked up two more voles while the kits filled their mouths with as much as they could carry and then they headed off to the nursery.

Mistcloud and Dreamcloud were waiting for them at the entrance.

"Is that for us?" Dreamcloud asked. "Why thank you!"

"Just give the other queens some and then come back out so that you can eat yours." Mistcloud told them.

They headed in quietly, creeping towards Roseblossom and her two new kits and dropping a mouse near her, then moving on to Moonblossom, Ivystream, and Raintear. When they got to Raintear, Shrewkit, her only kit mewed, "Why can't I eat fresh kill?"

"Because they are five moons old, and you are only three. Don't worry. You'll be able to soon." Icekit felt grown-up. She was able to eat fresh kill now and in only a moon she and her littermates would be apprentices.

When they got outside they went over to their favorite rock and lay down with their own fresh kill.

"All right. I'll count to three, and when I say go, we'll all take our first bite," Shadowkit said. "Okay, one, two, three, go!"

They all bit into their own.

"Mmmmm."

"Delicious."

"This is the best taste ever!"

"You said it."

They all forgot about sharing and finished the prey off quickly. When they were done, they stretched out on the rock and groomed themselves.

"That was great." Icekit mewed lazily. Grunts of agreement came from the others. Icekit could feel the warmth of the sun coming down on her and she closed her eyes.

a a a

Icekit awoke to find a paw poking at her side. She sat up and stretched out. Mosskit was yawning besides her, and Echokit was now busy waking up Shadowkit. Near the entrance of the camp a patrol was heading out.

"Soon we'll be able to go out with them." she said.

"Yeah. Only a moon." Mosskit said.

"Come on. Let's go visit Ashpelt and Dewcloud." They loved visiting the medicine den. It always gave them something to do, and Dewcloud and Ashpelt loved the company.

"We're going visit Dewcloud and Ashpelt. Wanna come?" Mosskit asked Echokit and Shadowkit.

"No, thanks. We were going to go and ask the elders to tell us a story." Echokit replied.

"Okay. We'll meet you there when we're done." Icekit said. "Come on. Let's go and tell Mistcloud."

"Tell me what?" Mistcloud's voice came from behind them.

"Mosskit and I want to go and see Dewcloud and Ashpelt, and Echokit and Shadowkit want to listen to a story with the elders." Icekit said.

"Alright, but if they're busy come back here. We don't want to bother them. Don't leave the camp, and come back by sunset." Mistcloud told them.

Four "okay"s came from the kits before they ran off to their destinations.

When Icekit and Mosskit arrived at the medicine den, they heard Dewcloud talking to a warrior.

"Yes, eat it all. And don't put any weight on that paw until I say you can. Two poppyseeds will be all you need, and I want to see you everyday. Come and see me if it starts hurting to much, though. And no battle training, so Foxpaw will need to train with another warrior, just until it gets better."

"Alright. I'll go and tell Lightningstar." Bearpelt's voice came from inside.

"No, you go and rest. I'll tell Lightningstar later. He doesn't need you right now. Now go and rest."

Icekit stepped back as she heard the brambles surrounding the carved out rock rustle, and a moment later Bearpelt came limping out. He nodded to them, and then headed to the warriors den.

Icekit and Mosskit pushed through the brambles and into a very small cave. Dewcloud was organizing the herbs near the back of the den, and looked up at the sound of them.

"Oh, hello Mosskit and Icekit. Where's Echokit and Shadowkit?" She asked.

"Listening to the elders. What happened to Bearpelt?" Mosskit asked.

"The rabbit he was trying to catch bit him, and I was trying to stop any infection before it started. Rabbit's have been known to have dirty teeth." Dewcloud told them.

"What did you use?" Mosskit asked.

"Comfrey to soothe it, marigold to stop any infection, and poppyseeds to ease the pain some." she replied.

"Can't you use horsetail?" Mosskit asked.

"I'll have to if it gets infected, but so far it looks fine." Dewcloud replied.

"Oh. Alright."

"Where's Ashpelt?"Icekit asked. She didn't see why Mosskit cared about the herbs. She sure didn't.

"He's out fetching more juniper berries. We're short after Jaybreeze accidentally ate the bad mouse that a careless apprentice brought in." Dewcloud replied. "He should be back anytime now. Here, would you two like to help me make a poultice?"

"Sure. How do you do it?" Icekit and Mosskit went over by her and watched as she chewed up some leaves and then spat them out. They leaned down to help her. Yuck, Icekit thought. Compared to the great taste of fresh kill she had earlier this was revolting, but she continued helping anyway. Leaf-bare would be coming up in about a moon and a half, and she wanted to help her clan be as strong as possible for it.

She heard the brambles rustle behind her and Ashpelt came over beside her and put down the juniper berries he had. Then he turned to Dewcloud and said, "The lavender down by the lake is doing really well."

"We'll have to go down and pick some soon. There's a storm coming soon. The air's been testy lately." Dewcloud said. Ashpelt was Dewcloud's apprentice, but he was able to be medicine cat if something happened to her or she retired, which she would be soon. She had been medicine cat for a long time and was starting to tire easily.

"And what brings you two here? It's a nice day out." Ashpelt asked Icekit and Mosskit.

"We were bored. We've already been outside anyway." Mosskit said.

"And guess what?" Icekit asked energeticly. "We had our first fresh kill today!"

"Really? How was it?" Ashpelt asked.

"It was _great!_"

"_Delicious!"_

"Great. We're lucky to have so much this leaf-fall." Ashpelt said. "Speaking of fresh kill, have you had any to eat yet, Dewcloud?"

"No, I haven't had a chance yet." she replied through a mouthful of poultice.

"Alright, Icekit, would you like to come with me to get some?" he asked.

"Okay." Icekit said, glad to get the taste of goldenrod out of her mouth.

They padded out of the den and into the sunlight. Ashpelt was right. It was a beautiful day.

As they walked back from the fresh kill pile a dark red cat burst through the entrance, breathing heavily. Lightningstar came rushing out of his den.

"What is it, Foxpaw? What's happened?" he asked the cat.

"We were ambushed over by the halfbridge by Shadowclan!" Foxpaw exclaimed. "We need more warriors!"

Lightningstar started assigning cats on another patrol right away. "Shadowbreeze, Icefire, Marki, Honeyheart, Wolfheart, Swiftfur, Fernpaw, Oceanpaw, Duskmoon, Brackenpelt, and Moonpaw. Go and help them. Get there as fast as you can!" The patrol raced off towards Shadowclan.

"I wish I could go too." Icekit said.

"You'll have your chance sometime soon I bet." Ashpelt said. "Now let's bring this mouse back to Dewcloud quickly so we can be prepared for any injuries."

They ran to the den and burst through the entrance. Dewcloud was telling Mosskit about all the different herbs and was startled.

"What is it?" she asked.

"A patrol's been attacked by Shadowclan over by the halfbridge! They just sent reinforcements. We'll need to be prepared for any injuries." Ashpelt said quickly.

"Alright. You two should go get your brothers then hurry back to Mistcloud." she instructed them.

"Okay, bye then." Mosskit said, hurrying out after Icekit.

They rushed to the elders den, making everyone in it jump.

"What is it? Are we being attacked?" Silverstorm jumped up. She had had to retire early due to a sickness that made her go blind, but she would still fight for her clan if she had to.

"Not here, but a patrol was ambushed by the halfbridge. We need to get back to Mistcloud." Icekit said.

Shadowkit and Echokit got up and followed Icekit and Mosskit out.

"Why can't we go and fight too?" Shadowkit complained.

"Yeah, we're nearly apprentices!" Echokit added.

"I say that we go and fight too! That'll show them we're good enough to be apprentices now!" Icekit said.

"Come on, we'll have to sneak out. We'll go out the lower ledge." Mosskit said.

They snuck along carfully until they were at the bottom of the ledge. Then after checking around to make sure that no cat was watching, they scurried up the edge.

"Come on, we'll have to head toward the smell of the lake." Echokit said.

Icekit's paws started to hurt after a while, but she was as determined as ever to prove that she was as good as her littermates, so she kept going until after what seemed like forever for them all, they could see the edge of the lake. Then they worked their way toward the halfbridge, keeping rather close to the shore so they didn't lose their way.

"Shh... Did you hear that? We must be getting close!" Mosskit said excitedly.

Sure enough, when they all stopped to listen, they could hear the yowls of battle. They crept through the trees until they could see the battle through the undergrowth.

Now Icekit wished that she were back with her mother. Cat's were being flung into the trees around them and almost all of the cats had deep cuts on them.

As she was about to suggest going back, a voice came from behind them.

"Hello, kits."


	4. Chapter 2

They spun around and saw a rough looking black and orange tom sneering at them.

They were about to squeal when he reached out and grabbed Mosskit around the neck. "Don't make a sound, or she gets it." He said through Mosskit's fur.

"Let her go!" Icekit said, trying not to show the fear in her voice. The tom just ignored her and walked into the clearing where the battle was raging, motioning with his tail for them to follow. They glanced at each other, and knowing they had no choice, followed him into the clearing.

"Surrender or she dies." he said in as loud a voice as he could.

The battle stopped and cats from both clans stared at them. Icekit wanted to hide under a plant just then.

Then she heard Shadowkit whisper quietly behind her, "When I say go, attack him until he drops her, and then run. Ready, GO!"

She leaped onto the black and orange tom's back and scratched down his flank. He dropped Mosskit, and yowled in pain as Echokit bit down hard on his tail. Then before She had a chance to get away he spun around and pinned her and Shadowkit down. Icefire could feel his breath on her neck and thought she was over for. Just as he was about to bite down Brackenfur leaped at him and landed on him, giving Icekit and Shadowkit time to run over by Icefire and Shadowbreeze, where Echokit joined them. Marki came up from behind them and grabbed a stunned Mosskit from harms' way.

"Don't touch our kits again, Scarpath!" Brackenpelt delivered a last bite on his paw and then went back into the fight, which had started again behind them. The kits huddled together, until finally a black and brown cat gave the yowl of retreat.

Icekit crouched down low when she saw her father, Wolfheart, approach them.

"What were you thinking? You nearly lost us a prey-rich part of the territory! And you've probably scared your mother to death with worry by now! And above all you could've gotten yourselves killed! What would we do without you? Great Starclan! You should know better by now! You'll be lucky if Lightningstar even allows you four to become apprentices' now!" Icekit flinched. Wolfheart's words stung more than the deep cut on the back of her neck.

Would Lightningstar really cancel their apprenticeship? They'd only been trying to help their clan, Icekit thought.

"I'm really sorry!" Echokit exclaimed.

"Yeah, we only wanted to help!" Shadowkit wailed.

"We wanted to show them how ready we were to become apprentices!"

"And now we might not even become apprentices!" Icekit wanted yowled with sadness.

"You all should've thought about that before you did it!" Wolfheart said. "I'm glad you're all right, though. What Scarpath did was against the warrior code, and Shadowclan knows it! I wonder what Lightningstar will say when he hears about it? I bet he'll bring it up at the gathering. Anyway, you four need to go and thank Brackenpelt now, especially you Icekit. He saved you.

"Alright. I'm really sorry!" Icekit mewed desperately.

She and her siblings went with their tails down to Brackenpelt, who was talking with Icefire. When they approached the two warriors, Brackenpelt and Icefire looked up.

"We just wanted to say thanks, Brackenpelt." Mosskit told him.

"Yeah, I'm really sorry! Thanks so much for saving me!" Icekit exclaimed guiltily.

"We're all _really _sorry!" Shadowkit said.

"Yeah, and grateful. I thought I was a goner!" Echokit added.

"You're welcome. I hope that I don't have to again, though. You four should know better by now." Brackenpelt told them.

"We know! And we should've thought about it more before doing it!" Mosskit said. She still had dried blood on her neck.

"And now Wolfheart said that Lightningstar might cancel our apprenticeship's!" Icekit wailed.

"I'm sure he won't do anything unfair. He'll listen to your stories before deciding what to do." Icefire told them.

"Come on, let's head back to camp where we can fix up any injuries." Silvermist's voice rose above all the conversations.

Icekit and her littermates followed Brackenpelt and Icefire into the woods. Every now and then they would make a sudden turn and then look back to make sure that the kits were following. Icekit made sure not to lose sight of their tails as the swerved around trees and over puddles. As they neared camp Icekit began to worry even more about what her mother and leader would say, and the cut on her neck was still throbing and bleeding slightly.

When she could see the entrance she moved closer to her littermates, who were also worried. They'd waited so long to be apprentices, and now, Icekit thought, they might not even be allowed to become them, all because _I_ suggested that we go and help fight!

When they walked through the brambles and thorns that protected the camp, a loud shriek filled the clearing as Mistcloud rushed over to them and started licking them all over. Soon Ashpelt joined her and started examining Icekit and Mosskit, who had the worst cuts.

"Go to the medicine den. Either Dewcloud or I will join you there when we're done checking everyone. Echokit, if that cut on your tail starts hurting come and tell one of us. Shadowkit, you look fine." he instructed them.

Icekit ducked away from her mother, with Mosskit following her, glad to get away from the accusing stares of the other warriors and apprentices. She headed towards Ashpelt and Dewcloud's den, purposely avoiding Lightningstar, who was listening to Silvermist and glancing over at her and her littermates every so often.

She pushed through the brambles and saw Honeyheart, Swiftfur, and Oceanpaw already sitting in the corner. Swiftfur had a deep scratch down his flank and Honeyheart's ear was nicked. Oceanpaw was holding her swollen paw up off the ground. They all looked around at her when she came in. She felt very self-conscience as she sat herself down near Dewclouds nest, where Mosskit joined her.

After what seemed like moons, Dewcloud entered the den and motioned with her tail for the two kits to follow her.

"Chew up this dock as I showed you earlier, Mosskit. And Icekit, you can start making this goldenrod into a poultice." she instructed them before going over toward Oceanpaw.

"Alright, I'm going to put this stinging nettle on your paw. It may sting a little, but it will help to bring down the swelling some." She rubbed some fuzzy green leaves on her paw. Oceanpaw winced, but she didn't complain.

"Now Mosskit, bring me some of that on a leaf." Mosskit wrapped up some of the chewed dock and dropped it at Dewcloud's paws. Dewcloud took it and put it on the wound. "This will help soothe it. You can go after I put some of the goldenrod on it to stop any infections. Don't put any weight on it, see me everyday, and stay in camp. Icekit, bring some here."

Icekit put some of her poultice on a leaf like Mosskit had done and Oceanpaw limped out of the den after Dewcloud applied it to her paw.

The brambles rustled again and Ashpelt entered the den.

"You can start helping Honeyheart. I'll help Swiftfur. Mossit and Icekit will be alright for a while, so they can help with making poultices until it's their turn." Dewcloud instructed him.

"Alright." Ashpelt went over to Honeyheart and looked over her ear while Icekit continued to chew up the dock.

"Mosskit, grab me some cobwebs." Mosskit went to the back of the den and wrapped some around her paw then hopped over to Honeyheart.

"Good. Now press them on her ear until I return." He came over near Icekit where the herbs were neatly sorted and picked three poppyseeds up with his paw. Then he hopped back to where Mosskit was pressing cobwebs on Honeyheart's ear and told her to lick them up.

"Thanks, Mosskit. Could you chew up three marigold leaves and then bring them here. While she's doing that, Icekit, bring me some of that goldenrod."

Icekit did as she was told. Ashpelt applied it to Honeyheart's ear and then turned to Mosskit, who had just finished chewing up the marigold.

As he put that on Honeyheart's ear, Dewcloud asked Icekit to bring her some goldenrod and then chew up some more marigold.

Yuck, Icekit thought. Now I have to chew up _marigold_! The goldenrod tastes bad enough already!

She did what she was told anyway, though, wondering why any cat would want to do this every day. She wanted to be the best warrior she could be, if Lightningstar would still let her.

_If he lets me be an apprentice, I'll train harder than the rest of them, just to show them how dedicated I am to being the best!_

Icekit tried to push aside the worries she had that she might never get the chance to show them, but they kept biting at the inside of her mind until her mind was clouded with terrible thoughts.

"Icekit, quit staring at the wall and let me look at you!" Ashpelt's voice entered her mind. She looked around. Now only Mosskit and her were left.

"Sorry, Ashpelt. I'm just worried that Lightningstar will stop us from becoming apprentices! We were only trying to help our clan!"

"I'm sure Lightningstar wouldn't punish you unfairly." he tried to reassure her.

"That's what Icefire said, but I still can't stop worrying. He still might not let us!" she mewed.

"Well, either way, I still need to look at your neck." Ashpelt parted the fur around her neck. "That's a nasty bite. Stand still while I put some marigold on it. It may sting a little, but it will keep it from getting infected."

Icekit flinched as the pulp seeped down into her cut. It _did _sting, really badly, but she was determined not to wail and cry. Instead she watched Dewcloud put comfrey on Mosskit, who also winced as the herb was applied.

"There you go. All done. Come back here every day so either Dewcloud or I can check on it." Ashpelt dismissed her. She waited until Dewcloud finished tending to Mosskit and then they both pushed through the brambles. Icekit took a deep breath. The air felt so fresh after all the smells of the medicine den, and she raced Mosskit to the nursery.

The sun had set behind the trees, and Icekit could see the moon, which was huge and yellow at this time of leaf-fall. Soon it would be a full moon and the gathering would take place. She wondered what would happen then.

When she pushed through the ferns and thorns around the nursery, she saw Roseblossom asleep with her young kits, Redkit and Lilykit, and Dreamcloud asleep with her kits, who were the second-oldest litter in the nursery. Moonblossom got up quietly and licked Icekit and Mosskit's heads and then lay back down with Ivystream, who was expecting kits soon. Raintear was sleeping with Shrewit near Mistcloud.

When they got near their mother she looked up at them, and then motioned for them to go to sleep over by Echokit and Shadowkit, who were pretending to be asleep by the edge of the ferns. Icekit curled up by Echokit and Mosskit lay down next to Shadowkit. Echokit opened her eyes a bit to show that she was awake and then closed them again before Mistcloud could see.

Icekit was restless. She wasn't tired at all, so when Mistcloud's breathing became steady and Moonblossom and Ivystream were still, she quietly got up and pushed through the ferns until she was at the edge of the clearing in the camp. She looked around to make sure that the night watch, Pebblepath, wasn't looking before jumping lightly up on to the rock they had eaten at earlier that day, which seemed like ages ago. She tucked her paws under her and gazed up at the beautiful night sky. Silverpelt stretched as far as she could see that night, and there were no clouds to cover it.

She saw the shadows move at the entrance of the camp as a patrol headed over to wait for the dusk patrol to return. Icekit stayed as still as she could. Her pure white coat stood out against the black sky, and she was glad that the moon's light was making the rocks around her almost as white as her fur.

After what seemed like a moon, the entrance rustled and the dusk patrol stopped to exchange words with the patrol that was leaving. The exchange was quick, so Icekit guessed that there was nothing going on by the Shadowclan border. As the patrol stepped into the moonlight she saw Cloverleaf, Cinderpaw, and Blackwhisker head back to their dens and Dawnflower, Moonpaw, Duskmoon, and Jaybreeze push through the brambles at the entrance. Then finally Wolfheart switched places with Pebblepath, and Pebblepath headed back to the warriors den.

As Pebblepath's tail disappeared Icekit relaxed and looked at the clearing. She had heard the story many times by the elders of how, seasons and seasons ago two Thunderclan cats, Squirrelflight and Brambleclaw, had stumbled across the camp. Squirrelflight had fallen over the edge, but luckily wasn't hurt. Then they went back with other cats from each clan and told all the clans that there were four territories that would suit each clan, with the lake in the middle. The story was very old, and details had been lost over time, but every kit was told the story many times.

Suddenly the ferns beside the rock rustled and Icekit froze. Then she relaxed again as Shadowkit pushed his way into the clearing. He quietly jumped up next to her and lay down.

"Knew you'd be here." he whispered, barely loud enough for her to hear. "You always sneak out here when you can't sleep."

"Yeah. It's just so nice out here, and I don't feel like sleeping yet."

"Me either. I think that Mosskit and Echokit are awake too."

"Echokit was awake when I left."

They lay side by side in a companionable silence until the ferns parted again and Echokit and Mosskit quietly came out and joined them.

"We couldn't sleep either, and we knew where you two went." Echokit whispered.

"If we're caught, we'll get in even more trouble." Mosskit said.

"Yeah, so let's not get caught!" Icekit said.

"I'm hungry. Think we'd be able to get some fresh kill without being seen?" Shadowkit mewed.

"Better wait until morning. Wolfheart's got those eyes that can see anything." Echokit meowed and the all laughed quietly.

"Yeah, anything but four kits sneaking out of the nursery!" they laughed some more.

They sat there until Mosskit broke the silence.

"I wonder... I wonder what Lightningstar will do tomorrow. Will he really not let us become apprentices?"

"I hope he will! What will we do if he doesn't? We'd be of no use!"

"Would we have to stay in the nursery forever?"

"Or go to the elders den?"

"Let's just hope that he does let us." Echokit said, only half hoping herself.

"I'd rather chew up marigold for a moon than not be an apprentice or warrior ever!" Icekit exclaimed quietly.

"Oh, come on! They aren't that bad!" Mosskit whispered.

"They're revolting!" Icekit said a little too loudly. Wolfheart turned and looked in their direction. They all froze. He stared there for what seemed like ages then shifted his gaze back to the entrance.

"Come on. Let's get back in the nursery." Shadowkit whispered.

They followed him back inside the nursery and curled up where they were before.

Icekit fell into an uneasy sleep with dreams that were filled with angry Shadowclan cats, rogues, and Lightningstar chasing her.

aaa

"Come on you four! I know that you had a long day yesterday, but you still have to get up!" Mistcloud's voice interrupted Echokit's dream. She sat up and stretched. Her stomach growled. She hadn't eaten since yesterday morning.

Now she remembered. Yesterday she and her littermaters tried to help fight Shadowclan and almost lost their clan the area around the halfbridge. Now she realized what the cold pit in her stomach was really from.

Mosskit sat up by her and Shadowkit arched his back.

"Come on, Icekit, get up!" Mistcloud was poking Icekit. Then she went over to Dreamcloud's kits, Snowkit and Whitekit, and whispered something to them. They yowled and pounced on Icekit, who jumped up and started play-fighting the younger kits.

Echokit watched, amused, until a thud on her back made her turn around and find Shrewkit attacking her. She winced at his sharp kit claws and batted playfully at him.

"Alright, that's enough. You four should go and get something to eat. I'm sure you're hungry after such a rough day yesterday." Mistcloud told them with a hint of disapproval in her voice.

Echokit followed Mosskit outside and ran over to the fresh kill pile, where an early hunting patrol had stocked it up. She chose a plump vole for herself and a fat sparrow for a queen. Her littermates did the same, getting something for themselves and another piece of prey for a queen. Then they went back into the nursery and dropped the extra prey near the queens. After they told Mistcloud what they were doing they headed outside and up on to the rock they had sat at the previous night when they couldn't sleep and ate their own prey.

After finishing her last bite of the vole, Echokit stretched out and the worry that had disappeared returned. Sometime that day Lightningstar would want to see them to tell them their punishment. Yesterday had been too busy, but today he had time to think about what it would be. She really wanted to become a warrior, and she couldn't do that if she couldn't be an apprentice first.

Sure enough, that time came later that day when she and her littermates were pretending to attack each other.

"Lightningstar wants to see you four." Blackwhisper said.

"Oh well. I guess that we had better just get it over with." Icekit said.

Echokit got off of Shadowkit and followed Mosskit to Lightningstar's den. They hesitated at the entrance, glancing at each other.

Finally Mosskit said, "Lightningstar?"

"Come on in." They entered his den. Echokit had never been in it before. It was a very small cave in the middle of one of the ledges surrounding the camp. It had a moss nest in the back and leaves had been dragged in to cover the rocky ground.

Lightningstar was an all black cat with a yellow streak down his back and green eyes. He motioned for them to sit down on the leaves.

"You know why you're here. You snuck out of camp yesterday to try and help fight Shadowclan, almost getting yourselves killed and losing the halfbridge, which gives us prey during leaf-bare and has helpful herbs. I have considered your punishment," Echokit held her breath, "and I think it would only be fair if I delay your apprenticeship by half a moon. And for a moon you will take care of the elders, stay in camp, and help Dewcloud and Ashpelt in the medicine den."

"Alright. I guess that's only fair." Icekit said.

"We're really sorry Lightningstar!" Shadowkit added.

"I know that you are. Hopefully now you'll think before doing something like this again. Now go and get started with your assignments." Lightningstar dismissed them.

Echokit bowed her head to him as she back out of the den. When she got out she breathed a sigh of relief.

"He didn't cancel our apprenticeship!" Mosskit yelled happily.

"Yeah, only delayed it." Shadowkit mewed sulkily.

"Oh, cheer up. It could've been much worse!" Icekit said.

"Yeah, but we should get started now before we get into more trouble." Echokit said. She and Mosskit raced off to help Dewcloud and Ashpelt while Icekit and Shadowkit went to clean out the elder's den.

Oh well, she thought, at least I'll still be able to be an apprentice, and I'm going to work hard to let them know how much I want this!


	5. Chapter 3

Half a moon had passed since the battle against Shadowclan. Mosskit was dragging the old moss out from the elders den, glad that she would be able to stop in another half moon. Icekit was taking fresh moss out of Dewcloud and Ashpelt's den and moving it into the elders den.

As Mosskit gathered the old and dirty moss up into a wad and pushed it over by the entrance of the camp, she thought about how lucky she and her littermates were to even be allowed to become apprentices after what had happened. Mosskit ran over to Dewcloud, who was lying outside of her den.

"Is there anything else that I can do?" she asked.

"Yes, you can go inside my den and chew up the chervil roots for Marki, she still has the bellyache. Two roots will be fine."

Mosskit went into the medicine den. The sweet and bitter aroma of the herbs drifted into her scent glands and she inhaled deeply. The smell of the herbs cleared her head and gave her energy. She loved it. At first, when her littermates had started talking about being warriors, she hadn't been sure that it was the right path for her. Now she was sure that she was meant to be a medicine cat, and Dewcloud would be retiring soon, so that would mean that Ashpelt would be ready to take on an apprentice of his own.

As she chewed up the chervil, she wondered what her brother and sisters would say when she told them. They were really excited about training to be warriors and might try to talk her out of it.

She went over to Marki, who was sleeping in the corner, and gently nudged her. The grey she-cat looked up, glancing around with her deep blue eyes.

"Here you go. Dewcloud says you should eat this." Mosskit said.

"Thanks, Mosskit." Marki ate the herbs, screwing up her face in disgust as the bitter juices entered her mouth.

Mosskit turned around and exited the den.

"Thank you, Mosskit. That's all that needs done now." Dewcloud said.

Mosskit headed over towards the nursery. Shadowkit and Echokit were wrestling and Snowkit, Whitekit, and Shrewkit were watching with amusement.

"I want the vole!" Mosskit heard Echokit say through Shadowkit's fur.

"Well I get it! I'm the oldest!" Shadowkit replied.

Neither of them noticed as Mosskit snuck behind them and dragged the vole over to Lightningstar's den.

She dropped and said, "Lightningstar?"

"You can come in." was his reply.

Mosskit pushed through the thorns and brambles.

"I was wondering if you were hungry? A hunting patrol just returned."

"Thank you. I was just about to go and get something for myself, actually, so that worked out perfectly. And this vole looks really plump. Thank you, Mosskit." Lightningstar meowed.

Mosskit dipped her head and then backed out of the den. Across the clearing, she heard Shadowkit mew, "Hey! What happened to the vole I just won?"

"Ha! Serves you right! Cheater!" was Echokit's reply.

Mosskit joined them. "Lightningstar really appreciates the vole." she mewed.

"You! Argh!" Shadowkit and Echokit tackled Mosskit.

"Hey! This isn't fair! Shrewkit, Snowkit, Whitekit! Help me!" she mewed playfully. The other kits pounced on her littermates, and she batted at Shadowkit.

"Alright, that's enough. It's time for you all to eat." Dreamcloud said from the edge of the clearing.

Mosskit raced Shadowkit and Echokit to the fresh kill pile and chose a small mouse. She wasn't very hungry. Then they went to their rock and ate. Icekit joined them shortly, complaining about "how the elders couldn't change their own bedding" and "why _she _always had to be the one cleaning it out", even though she rarely did and Mosskit had helped her that morning.

"I'm just _so _bored!" Icekit mewed.

"Well we all are. We just have to wait one more moon, and then we can be apprentices!" Echokit said.

"I'm going to train harder than the rest of you!" Shadowkit mewed.

"Doubt it! You'll be too busy _saying _that you are!" Mosskit teased. They all laughed.

The thorns at the entrance rustled and the sun high patrol returned, looking worried. Blackwhisper, who had led the patrol, went straight into Lightningstar's den while the rest sat down and waited anxiously.

After a while Lightningstar and Blackwhisper came out of the den.

"Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather beneath the Highrock for a clan meeting!" Lightningstar's voice rang throughout the clearing.

Mosskit followed her littermates into the clearing at sat down by her mother, looking up at where Lightningstar and Blackwhisker stood waiting for all of the cats to come out of their den.

When the last cat had come out of the warriors den, Lightningstar addressed the clan, "Blackwhisper and his patrol have something important to tell the clan."

He stepped back and motioned for Blackwhisper to come forward.

"While on patrol, Cinderpaw scented a badger," he began. Mews of distress rose from the clan. "We followed the scent toward the clearing, where the trail ended at a boulder. We suspect it to still be on Thunderclan territory, though, as the scent was fresh."

"We will have to take necessary precautions to ensure that no cat comes to any harm. Apprentices must have a warrior with them when they leave the camp, and warriors have to go out in pairs. No cat will hunt there until the badger is gone. Hopefully it is just passing through, but if it is not gone within five sunrises, I will send a patrol to drive it out. I don't want to risk any cat getting injured this close to leaf-bare. And speaking of leaf-bare, Oceanpaw, would you come here please."

Oceanpaw looked up, obviously surprised.

"This leaf-bare, we will need strong warriors to keep our clan strong. I have talked to your mentor, Wolfheart, and we both agree that you have trained long and hard and deserve you warrior name. I, Lightningstar, call upon our warrior ancestors to look down upon this apprentice. She has trained hard to learn your noble code, and I commend her to you as a warrior in her turn. Oceanpaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code, and to protect and defend this clan, even at the cost of your life?"

"I do." came Oceanpaw's steady and calm voice.

"Then by the power of StarClan, I give you your warrior name. Oceanpaw, from this moment on, you will be known as Oceanfur. We welcome you as a full warrior of Thunderclan." Lightningstar finished.

"Oceanfur! Oceanfur!" The cats below yelled.

"Yay Oceanfur!" Mosskit yelled.

As the cats began to clear away out of the clearing, Mosskit completely forgot about the badger, which had worried her. It was too close to leaf-bare to have to deal with the effects of a badger.

Instead she thought about Oceanfur's warriors ceremony. One day, that would happen to her, but differently she hoped. A medicine cat ceremony was what she wanted, and she was going to work as hard as possible to get it. She would help out in the medicine den as much as she could, and learn what she could too.

As she curled up in her nest that night, she had a dream about getting lost in a huge pile of herbs.

a a a

Mosskit awoke the next morning with the taste of the herbs from her dreams still in her mouth. She looked around at the rest of the nursery. She was the first one awake. She carefully got up and snuck out past Moonblossom, Raintear, Ivystream, Dreamcloud, Mistcloud, and Roseblossom into the chilled morning air. The sun was starting to appear through the trees, and the sky around it was filled with brilliant pinks and oranges.

Mosskit looked over at the entrance in time to see the dawn patrol getting ready to head out as the moonhigh patrol returned, with Cloverleaf in the lead. Oceanfur was keeping vigil on Highrock, so there was no watch.

As the tired patrol headed back to their dens for the night, Ashpelt stepped out of the medicine cat den and stretched. Mosskit shrank back into the shadows, but he had already seen her. He crept toward her, making sure that Oceanfur didn't see him.

Would he tell on her? she wondered as he approached her. He leaped up on the rock that they ate at and had recently named Nightrock, because at night it always seemed to blend into it's surroundings.

She followed him up and lay down beside him.

"Have you seen the beautiful sunrise? I'm normally not awake early enough to see it, and it usually isn't so colorful." he whispered, his breath coming out into a mist from the chilled air. She nodded.

As they looked around, enjoying the peace, Mosskit realized how colorful the leaves around the camp were. She also noticed that there were leaves scattered across the clearing. Leaf-bare was coming up quickly. Soon all the leaves would be gone, and the snow would begin to fall. She had never seen snow before, but knew all about how it killed cats, prey, herbs, and possibly the clan itself.

Ashpelt stirred beside her as Dawnflower and Duskmoon came out of the warriors den. They were shortly followed by Honeyheart, Jaybreeze, and Wolfheart. Fernpaw poked her head out of the apprentices den and then went back in. After a moment, she stepped out again with Moonpaw. Mosskit could hear movement coming from the nursery and knew Ashpelt had heard it to. He got up and motioned for her to follow him into the nursery.

Dreamcloud, her kits, Moonblossom, and Ivystream were awake. Mistcloud was franticly looking over the nursery for Mosskit, but when she saw her coming in with Ashpelt whe relaxed and got up.

"Mosskit was awake, so we decided to wait outside for everyone to wake up." Ashpelt whispered to Mistcloud.

"The sunrise was beautiful!" Mosskit commented.

"I'm sure it was." Mistcloud purred and licked Mosskit between the ears. "You can go and eat breakfast now and help Ashpelt and Dewcloud with anything they need now if you want. I don't know how long it will be before your littermates wake up, and I'm sure you're hungry."

"Alright." Mosskit said.

"Come on. Dewcloud's normally the first one up, and I'm sure she'd appreciate it if we brought some fresh kill for her and Marki." Ashpelt said. Mosskit followed him out of the nursery and they headed to the fresh kill pile.

"A patrol must have just returned." Ashpelt commented.

The fresh kill pile was fresh, filled with squirrels that had been searching for a place to store their winter food supply. Mosskit chose a squirrel for herself and a nice fat pigeon for Dewcloud, and Ashpelt got a squirrel for himself and another for Marki.

As they headed over to the medicine den, Mosskit saw Lightningstar tell Oceanfur that her vigil was finished. Mosskit watched as Oceanfur got up and stretched, then headed sleepily to her new den.

Ashpelt had been right. Dewcloud was up and talking to Marki.

"Oh, there you are! And I see that Mosskit is ready to help us again today! Are those for us? Great!" she said as Mosskit dropped the pigeon at her paws.

They all ate quickly and then Dewcloud set Mosskit to work making poultices and organizing herbs and berries. After she had finished that she asked Dewcloud to show her what different herbs were for.

"Well this is burdock root. It's great for rat bites. And this here is catmint. It's the only thing that can completely cure greencough. I hope that we don't have to use it this leaf-bare, but it's good to have, just in case. These dark purple berries are juniper berries. I've used most of them to help cure Marki's bellyache, but they're also good if a cat's having trouble breathing." Dewcloud told her. "We're low on many things right now, and I was going to go today. It's best to go before sunhigh, or else it's too humid. Although the air does seem to have a cold pinch to it today, doesn't it?"

After giving Marki a ball of wet moss, Mosskit headed over to the elders den. Ashpelt and Dewcloud had gone to look for herbs, and there wasn't much else to do.

As Mosskit entered the den, she heard Nightdust telling a story, and when she got through all of the brambles she saw her littermates, Snowkit, Whitekit, and Shrewkit listening intently to the story.

"Oh, it's you, Mosskit! Come and have a seat. I was just beginning the story about how the great leader Firestar became a Thunderclan apprentice." Nightdust said.

Mosskit sat herself down between Shrewkit and Snowkit and tucked her paws under her. She hadn't had a chance to hear this story yet, but Mistcloud said it was great.

"And so Rusty kept having dreams about hunting in the forest, and he would often sit on a fence post and stare longingly into the woods, until one day, he plucked up the courage to venture into the forest. Now, at that time, for a kittypet, it did take a lot of courage. You see, there were many tales of giant, cruel monster cats that would kill you with a swipe of their paw going around kittypet homes then. So Rusty cautiously creeped through the undergrowth, until he saw what he was looking for.

A mouse was sitting by a tree, so Rusty began to creep toward it, making sure that his kittypet collar didn't make any noise. Right when he was about to pounce on it, he heard the bushes rustle behind him. The mouse ran, and Rusty chased it until it went under some roots. He looked around to see what had cost him the mouse and saw two small and beady eyes in the bushes." A gasp came from Shrewkit.

Nightdust continued, "Rusty saw some red fur, so he decided to follow the strange creature. The animal was red with a bushy tail-"

"A fox!" Whitekit gasped.

"- and long and skinny." Nightdust ignored this. "As Rusty sat at a safe distance watching it drink from a puddle, he heard a twig snap. Before he could see what it was, something slammed into him-"

"Was it a badger?" Shrewkit mewed worrily.

"No, it was Graystripe, wasn't it, Nightdust?" Snowkit said.

"Now we don't want to ruin the story, you two, so just let me tell it." Nightdust instructed. "Before he could see what it was, something slammed into him. Rusty ran, but his attacker was right on his paws. Now, Rusty was brave, and he thought to himself, 'If he's going to get me anyway, I'd rather face him than run away, even if it is a giant monster cat.' So Rusty spun around, and his attacker slammed into him, knocking them both over. As Rusty got to his paws, the other animal attacked him. They fought, but Rusty wasn't good enough. As his attacker dug his teeth into his neck, Rusty thought of one last thing. He went limp, pretending to surrender. The other animal relaxed a second to long. Rusty kicked up, throwing his attacker off of him.

When the animal got up again, it just sat up and started licking it's paw. Rusty saw that it was another cat. It didn't look vicious, though, it looked like he was the same age as Rusty. He had grey fur, and yellow eyes. 'I didn't expect a kittypet to do that,' the grey cat said. 'I thought that you were a Shadowclan warrior. They would have teared you to shreds. They've been stealing prey from our territoy lately.' Rusty had no idea what the strange cat was talking about.

'I'm training to be a warrior! When I become one I'll be huge and really powerful! Lionheart's my mentor! He's the best. I'm Graypaw, by the way." the grey cat said. "I don't know about that. I'm definitly not the best, but thank you.' came a voice and a golden tom stepped out of the bushes. 'Lionheart!' Graypaw said. Another cat stepped out. 'Bluestar!' The cat was a blue-grey she-cat, and she said, 'We were watching you two. You're fighting skills are coming along great, Graypaw. And, Rusty, you are an unusual kittypet. I don't know of a single one who would of turned around to fight. We are short on warriors, and I was wondering if you would like to train as one?' Rusty thought about it overnight, and finally made up his mind. The next morning, he went back to the forest and told Lionheart and Tigerclaw that he wanted to be a Thunderclan apprentice." Nightdust concluded.

"Wasn't Tigerclaw evil though?" Shrewkit asked.

"Yes, but that's a different story." Dreamcloud's voice entered the den. "It's time for you all to come back and eat. The sun's going down quickly, and it will get cold tonight."

Mosskit got up and stretched before following the other kits out of the elders den.

"Thanks for telling us the story, Nightdust!" she called over her shoulder on the way out.

As they went by the fresh kill pile she grabbed a mouse. Then she sat on Nightrock with her littermates and ate it.

"I hope the badger doesn't hurt any cat." Mosskit said after a while.

"Yeah. This leaf-bare seems like it's going to be really bad, and we haven't even seen snow before!." Echokit said.

"The moon seems really bright tonight." Icekit commented.

When Mosskit looked, she saw what her sister meant. The moon _did_ seem really bright tonight.

And from his den, Lightningstar saw it too. In fact, he saw that the moon seemed to be illuminating the rock that four small cats sat on mainly. He remembered the prophecy again, and wondered what the fate of his clan was. These kits didn't know much, but yet they had a great power, and he knew that he must chose their mentors wisely. If he chose the wrong mentors, his clan would suffer needlessly, and all hope to make it through leaf-bare would be lost. These kits could chose to use their powers for their clan, or for themselves. If they chose themselves, the clan would be destroyed before his eyes.


	6. Chapter 4

"Ouch! Geroff me!" Shadowkit heard Icekit mew from beneath him.

He and his littermates were pretending that Mosskit and Icekit were Shadowclan warriors and he and Echokit had to fight them off.

"A battle won!" he mewed before letting her up.

"You silly furball!" Icekit mewed and cuffed him on the ear.

"Come on you guys. Let's finish up with our work for today. Icekit and I will go and help the elders, and Shadowkit and Mosskit, you two go to Dewcloud and Ashpelt.  
Echokit told them.

Shadowkit followed his sister through the camp and pushed through the brambles into the medicine den, where he saw that Ashpelt was reorganizing the stock of herbs. Dewcloud was not there.

"Hello, you two. Dewcloud is out collecting herbs and berries. She insists that the storm will break any time now, so she wants to replenish the stock. She's been saying the same thing for half a moon now. The air is crackling with the tension." he greeted them.

Shadowkit felt the air. Ashpelt was right. The air around them was dry and tense.

"What can we help with?" Mosskit asked.

"There's not much to do. Marki left earlier this morning, so we don't have any cats that need caring for." Ashpelt said. "I guess that you two should go help your sisters."

"Alright. See you later!" Shadowkit said.

"Bye!"

Shadowkit exited the den. There was a dull gray light covering the camp. He could not see the sun for the dark, foreboding clouds that stretched across the sky.

He pushed his way into the elders den to find Icekit dragging a mouthful of moss out.

"Gogesomore." she said through the moss.

Shadowkit and Mosskit got the last of the moss and dragged it back out to where Icekit and Echokit were sitting.

"Why aren't we getting fresh moss?" he asked.

"What? Oh, yeah, we forgot. Come on, we're almost finished!" Echokit mewed encouragingly.

They raced into the medicine den and dragged out all the moss that they could carry.

When they were done putting the moss in the elders den they went over to the fresh kill pile and selected two voles, a pigeon, and a thrush to eat on Nightrock.

Shadowkit saw the entrance part as the dusk patrol pushed their way through. The day had gone so quickly it seemed. Now a cool breeze swept across the clearing. Shadowkit moved closer to his sisters, trying to keep the cold out.

When finally the last lights of the day slipped away, the four kits quietly went into the nursery and went to sleep.

a a a

Shadowkit awoke to find Icekit prancing around the nursery, saying, "We're going out of camp today! We're going out of camp today!"

"What do you mean?" Shadowkit asked.

"Dewcloud just came in and asked for our help collecting herbs and berries with her in the forest!" Echokit said excitedly.

"Yeah, and Mistcloud and Lightningstar said we could go!" Mosskit mewed.

"When do we go?" he asked.

"When Dewcloud finds a warrior to help. Ashpelt has to stay and watch over Dawnflower. She has a nasty bellyache." Mosskit replied.

Shadowkit sat down next to Echokit and waited. Finally, after what seemed like forever, Dewcloud poked her head into the den and told them to come on out.

Brackenpelt was waiting outside.

"Now, you four have to stay near either Brackenpelt or me. Do what we say. We don't need anything bad happening. We'll head down to the lake first." Dewcloud instructed them.

As they followed her out of camp, with Brackenpelt following at the end, Shadowkit couldn't help wondering if this adventure would be anything like their last. He truely hoped not. Oh well, he thought, at least this time we have permission!

As they stepped into the woods Shadowkit realized how unsettled the air was. Dewcloud seemed to notice also.

"Alright, let's make this fast. I don't like the look of those dark clouds above us. We only need two types of herbs, really. Chevril and poppyseeds." she said.

They headed down toward the lake as quickly as they could.

"Alright, now we need to find a plant that looks like a fern with small white flowers and poppy flowers." Dewcloud instructed. "Stay around here though and don't go to deep into the woods."

They split up and looked through all the bushes and plants. Shadowkit started close to the edge of the lake. His gaze swept through the undergrowth and he caught a glimpse of white. He went a bit deeper into the shurbs and started to carefully bite at the bottom of the chervil plant. A while later he came out from the bushes with his mouth full. He glanced at the lake, and saw to his dismay that the waves were growing and the wind was picking up quickly. The sky above was a very dark grey and the clouds rolled over it. Shadowkit raced over to where Dewcloud was searching the bushes a couple fox-lengths into the woods.

"Dewcloud! Come out here and look at this!" His voice was rising in panic. The wind had picked up and he had to shout just to hear himself. Dewcloud pushed her way through the undergrowth and gasped as the wind ruffled her fur.

"Let's get back! Now!" she yelled as loud as she could. Echokit and Brackenpelt appeared from the bushes and Mosskit pushed her way carefully through some thorns.

"Wheres Icekit?" Shadowkit yelled.

"I thought that she was just over there!" Brackenpelt pointed with his tail to a oak tree surrounded by brambles and Shadowkit raced over and searched the area around it. He went back to the others and shook his head.

"Oh no! Come on, we have to find her now!" Dewcloud's voice was quiet even though she was screaming as loud as she could. The waves were now crashing against the shore and panic welled up inside of Shadowkit as he realized that it was so dark out he could barely see the outlines of the others. How were they going to find his sister?

"Stay close together and look for Icekit!" Brackenpelt yelled.

Shadowkit raced after him into the forest, with the rest of them on his paws.

"Where could she be?" he yelled.

"I don't know, but we need to look-" Brackenpelts voice was cut off as a blinding flash of lightning illuminated the world around them and was soon followed by the crash of thunder. The wind whistled in Shadowkit's ears and made his fur blow in all different directions. He crouched low as another flash of lightning lit up the forest, then sprinted after Brackenpelt.

"Icekit! Where are you? Icekit!" They all yelled as they raced through the trees.

Shadowkit couldn't see anything now unless the lightning flashed, so he used his whiskers to feel around him. His fur brushed against something. He glanced over and saw Mosskit racing through the trees next to him. He felt Echokit and Dewcloud's breath on his paws. Brackenpelt was leading them blindly through the trees.

"Starclan! Where is she?!" Shadowkit yelled as he raced through the trees.

Lightning was now flashing every few seconds and ferocious thunder followed each flash immediately, along with wind whipping around them. The rain had broken through the canopy of the trees and was now pouring down and soaking the desperate cats.

Suddenly, Shadowkit saw something white from the corner of his eyes. He whipped around and saw Icekit racing around and calling for them.

"Icekit, we're here!" he yelled to her, but his voice was drowned out by thunder. He ran toward her, aware that Brackenpelt and Echokit were behind him, and Mosskit and Dewcloud were turning toward them.

Suddenly, he skidded to a halt as a blinding flach of lightnin lit up the forest and illuminated the scene in front of him. It seemded to happen slowly, and very unreally. The tree that Icekit was about to run under split at the bottom and tumbled to the earth. Icekit tried to stop herself, but she was to slow. The giant tree crashed on to her, and she disappeared from Shadowkit's view.

"Icekit! NO!" he yelped.

Shadowkit raced to the tree she was crushed under. It was a terrible sight. He could see only her front paws, which were covered with bright red blood. He desperately pushed at the trunk of the tree, trying to get it off of her.

After a while he was aware of the other cats helping him. He shoved at it until he almost passed out from the work. He kept pushing and clawing at the tree. Finally, the tree moved a bit. Brackpelt and Mosskit jumped under the tree and held it up. He jumped in with them while Dewcloud carefully pulled Icekit's broken body out. After it was completely out from under it, he, Brackenpelt, and Mosskit leaped out and the tree fell behind them.

Shadowkit rushed over to where Dewcloud and Echokit were tending to Icekit. Her fur was covered in blood, her front legs twisted akwardly, and half her tail was ripped off. She also had a deep cut down her face and plank, which were both bleeding uncontrolably. The wind messed up her fur and the rain plastered it down.

"Will she be alright?" Shadowkit heard Echokit yell above the wind.

"I can't tell yet! We have to get back to camp, but she can't be moved to far! Mosskit, I need cobwebs, now!" Dewcloud replied. Mosskit raced off into the trees and returned seconds later with cobwebs all around her paw. She started to press some against Icekit's flank. When Shadowkit looked, he couldn't see it rise or fall.

"Is she even breathing?" he asked loudly. A flash of lightning appeared around them and thunder split their ears apart. The wind was so strong that Shadowkit had to hunch down or else be swept off his feet. He slowly worked his way to his sisters, who smaller than him, and tried to block some of the wind from hitting them.

"Is she breathing?" he repeated his question when no one answered it.

"I... I don't know! It'd be best if we get her back to camp now! It won't make a difference any more! If she stays here, she will die anyway!" Dewcloud yowled above the thunder, wind, and rain.

Shadowkit and his sisters went over and helped to lift her up. Slowly they cats pushed themselves against the wind and rain coming toward them. They were up on a hill now, and Shadowkit looked back at the lake that was visible behind the trees that they towered over. He tried to bite down the panic that grew within him when he saw something terrifying.

A huge, dark, funnel was whirling around the edge of the lake on Windclan's border. It was made of wind and thrashed the trees, sand, and rocks around in it. Besides it, the waves of the lake seemed to be pulled to it.

"HURRY!" he yelled and pointed with his tail to the dark mass. He saw the other's eyes widen with horror at the sight. They tried to quicken their pace, but the wind still held them back. Shadowkit knew that it must be night by now, but the black clouds that covered the sky did not let through any of the moon's light. As he helped drag his sister back to where she could possibly be saved, he thought about how frantic his mother, father, and leader must be by now. He tried to go faster at the thought of his parents screaming for him and his littermates.

By the time the entrance was in sight, Shadowkit was freezing. His fur was plastered down and the wind had turned bitter cold. He was also shivering violently. He fought to keep moving, and his paws were numb.

As they neared the entrance, he could hear his mothers voice. He longed to yell back to her, to tell her that they were almost there, but he kept carrying his sister, who had been so eager to get out of camp, and ended up getting crushed by a tree. What if she died? What if Dewcloud and Ashpelt _couldn't save her?_ He didn't think he could go on then. There had always been _four_ of them. It just seemed to work like that. _Four _seasons. _Four _Clans. _Four_ of them!

As the cold, tired, and hungry cats pushed through the entrance, they heard a screech come from the clearing. Mistcloud rushed up to them, but they could not stop until they had gently put Icekit in the medicine den. Then Mistcloud, Wolfheart, Lightningstar, and Ashpelt joined them. Mistcloud started licking them.

"Please! Please tell me that Icekit will be alright!" she mewed desperately to Dewcloud.

"I can't be sure about anything yet. One of her back legs is dislocated, and a front leg is broken. The part of her tail will not grow back, and she will have scars from the cuts." Dewcloud mewed sadly.

Mistcloud let out a wail of distress. "Why! Why, StarClan!"

Shadowkit bowed his head with grief. Then he went over to Icekit. He started licking her wounds, wishing that they would just go away. They were still bleeding slightly, so silently Mosskit brought over cobwebs and pressed them on Icekit. Echokit joined them and lay down beside the now red and white kit.

"I... I can't see... her breathing." Echokit whimpered hoarsely.

"Ashpelt, is she... gone?" Shadowkit croaked. Ashpelt came over by them and opened Icekit's mouth.

"She's in StarClan's hands now." he informed the waiting cats. Lightningstar bowed his head, and Wolfheart looked away as he tried to comfort his distressed mate. Dewcloud sat down and folded her paws under her before closing her eyes.

After a while of painful waiting, Lightningstar broke the dreadful silence. "I... I should go back out now, the other warriors will want to know what happened." He ducked out of the den, leaving the mourning cats.

Dewcloud approached Wolfheart and Mistcloud. "You two need some rest, and so do your kits. Take them back to the nursery, and I will inform you immediately if anything happens."

Mistcloud continued to stare at the ground, but Wolfheart nodded and nudged her up. "Come, you three."

Shadowkit and Echokit looked at their sister again before following them to the entrance.

"May I stay here, please. I'm too tired and comfortable." Shadowkit heard Mosskit ask quietly. Wolfheart nodded and then left. Shadowkit followed him out. When they got into the clearing Shadowkit saw dozens of eyes look their way, and whispers spread. Shadowkit continued to stare at his paws, trying to avoid the other cats.

When they got into the nursery, Moonblossom approached them and licked Mistcloud between the ears. She led them silently to their nest and then sat in her nest.

Shadowkit saw his mother and father, who must be staying, lay down side by side. Wolfheart started rasping his tounge over his mate, and Shadowkit didn't know what to do. Echokit settled down by them and then started staring at some unknown picture, seasons away. Shadowkit felt alone, afraid, angry, and sad. He couldn't take it anymore. Everything that had happened that day seemed to fall down on to him at once, and he wanted to yowl with confusion. Why had it happened to his sister? Why was StarClan about to take away part of his family? Why had the storm come when they were out? What would ThunderClan do about the dark funnel, which surely must have come into their territory by now? And would his sister live? He couldn't bear it. He burst through the nursery entrance and ran out into the clearing, where cats still huddled. The storm had finally ended, but to him, it had just begun. He stumbled around blindly. He was just a kit! He couldn't handle this kind of pain! He ran, looking in every crack of the walls of rock that surrounded him, but he didn't know what he was looking for. He just ran, as far away from everything as he could. It was almost as if the entrance to the camp had disappeared, because he felt trapped. There was no way out. No way out!

"I'm trapped! StarClan, save me!" he yowled into the wind. He felt a tail flick over his shoulder comfortingly and looked up to see a shimmering silver cat gazing at him understandingly.

"We will never abandon you." The she-cat said calmly, and started to lick Shadowkit's matted fur until he felt comforted. Then the beautiful cat wrapped her tail around him and led him back into the nursery, where she disappeared as Moonblossom got up and guided him to her nest. He knew that only he saw the cat from StarClan, and he settled down into a deep, uneasy sleep.


	7. Chapter 5

Mosskit watched as her parents, Echokit, and Shadowkit left the medicine den. She sat there, exhausted, and looked at Icekit. Was this what it was like to be a medicine cat? Doing all you can, and still having to watch cats die? No, she thought. Icekit would not die! She couldn't! Mosskit looked down at her sister, covered in blood and dirt. She was in StarClan's hands now, Ashpelt had said.

Oh, please! Don't take my sister from me! she thought.

"Mosskit, you need to sleep. It's been a long day, and there's nothing more that we can do." Dewcloud's gentle voice came from behind her.

"Alright, but can I stay here? By Icekit?" she asked.

"Sure, just get to sleep quickly, and if anything happens during the night, wake us both. Good night." Dewcloud went to her nest, which was behind a crook in the stone wall.

Mosskit curled up closer to Icekit and closed her eyes.

When she opened them again, she was surrounded by Silverpelt. She glanced around, and saw that there was only a dark grey land going on as far as she could see. The night sky was clear, and each star stood out against the pure black sky. She thought that she could also hear the peaceful lapping of waves along a shore somewhere, and it relaxed her. This place could not be bad. She turned around, and to her surprise saw Icekit laying on the ground. She stood out easily, and Mosskit wondered if she had been there the whole time.

Suddenly, to her amazement, Icekit blinked. Mosskit saw her sister look around, and then sit up. Icekit looked up at Silverpelt and let out a soft "Wow". Mosskit sat there still, urging Icekit on. She wanted to see what would happen.

But, before her sister got up, the stars of Silverpelt came closer, until they made a smooth slant. A black tom padded slowly down the slope, until he met Icekit at the bottom of it.

"Come, it is your time." he mewed.

"Wha... What do you mean? Am I dead?" Icekit asked, still in a daze.

"Not quite, but you shall be once you enter StarClan with me." the tom replied.

"But I want to see my littermates again! And my mother, and father! I'm not even an apprentice yet! Please don't make me go! Please, please!" Icekit yelled.

"I know. But it's not always that easy. In StarClan, your legs will be healed, along with your cuts and pains." the black tom explained gently.

Mosskit could see that her sister was starting to give in.

"Come, you will be safe with us." the black tom urged. He wrapped his tail around Icekit's shoulders and started to lead her up the star slope. Mosskit knew this was it. Now or never. If she didn't do something now, her sister would be gone.

"Icekit! Wait!" she bursted toward the stars. Her sister whipped her head around with surprise.

"Mosskit! But... How did you... here! You're not dead too, are you?"

"Icekit, please! You're not dead yet! You can still come back with me! Don't leave me, Icekit! Please, don't leave me!" Mosskit begged.

"But it's supposed to be great! All the prey ever, and no battles!" Icekit mewed.

"You haven't even started training to be an apprentice yet!" Mosskit mewed desperately. When Icekit didn't reply, Mosskit turned to the black tom. "Please don't take her! Let her stay!"

"It is not my choice now that you have come. It is her own." he said.

"Icekit, please! Think of me going through life without you! You'll miss out on so much! You'll never find out who you're mentor would be! You'll break our parents hearts!" Finally Icekit snapped out of her daze.

Icekit turned to the tom beside her. "I'm sorry, but I want to go back to my Clan. They need me." she said before racing back down the slope. Together, Mosskit and Icekit ran, until a blinding white light swallowed them.

a a a

"Mosskit! Wake up!" Mosskit awoke to hear Dewcloud's voice in her ear. She sat up, and recalled the dream that she had just had. It had seemed so real. She looked over at Dewcloud and Ashpelt, who was there too.

"She's going to live!" Ashpelt said happily. Suddenly Mosskit knew that it was no dream that she had had.

"That's great!" she purred.

"She's conscience now. I don't know when she'll wake up, but she won't die." Dewcloud informed her. When Dewcloud looked at Mosskit in a funny way, Mosskit knew she had shown some sign of the dream on her face. "Is there something you would like to tell us?" she asked.

"I... I had a dream last night. At least, I think it was a dream." Mosskit said carefully.

"And..." Ashpelt encouraged her to continue.

"Well, I woke up to find myself in the middle of dark grey land, with Silverpelt shining intensly above me..." Mosskit told the two medicine cats how the stars had come down, and how the black tom had told Icekit to go with him to StarClan. "And then I woke up here." she finished. She saw Ashpelt and Dewcloud glance at each other knowingly.

"What?" she asked curiously.

"Well..." Ashpelt started.

"It seems that you have a very special connection with our warrior ancestors." Dewcloud said.

"_Very_special." Ashpelt mewed. Mosskit glanced from one medicine cat to the other. What were they heading toward?

"And as you know, I'll be retiring soon..." Dewcloud continued.

"And I'll be needing an apprentice of my own, and, well..." Ashpelt said.

"We think that you'd make a great medicine cat. If you like." Dewcloud said slowly.

Mosskit was caught off her guard.

"You don't have to decide now. You can wait until you're ready to become an apprentice, if you prefer that." Ashpelt said.

"Alright. I'll think about it." Mosskit mewed.

"Great, but now I think that you should get some fresh kill. You must be hungry." Dewcloud meowed softly. Mosskit realized how hungry she was. She told them that she'd tell her mother about Icekit, and then stepped out of the den and into the cool morning air.

She padded over to the fresh kill pile, which she saw had recently been added to, and chose a plump vole. Then she went over to Nightrock and jumped nimbly up on to it. As she ate, she thought about what had just happened. Ashpelt wanted _her_as his apprentice, and Dewcloud approved! She had never really thought that she'd be offered the opportunity. Now she thought about what it would be like. Sure, she'd be doing what she loved and did well, but she would get to see her littermates train and go on patrols without her, if Icekit ever healed. That was another thing. How was she supposed to heal every cat? There were so many things that could happen! Battles, sicknesses, foxes, badgers, thorns... and so much more. How could she be able to know how to take care of each different injury? What if she did something wrong, and a Clanmate suffered because of her mistake?

But she loved it so much... the smell of the herbs, organizing them neatly in the back of the den, how every cat could count on a medicine cat. Her dream was so close, yet so far away!

She decided to wait a while before making her final decision, so she went to tell her mother about Icekit.

a a a

Mosskit raced to the entrance of the camp when she saw the dawn patrol break through the barrier, with Duskmoon at the lead. Mosskit sat and watched them come through, patiently waiting for the one cat that she really wanted to talk to. She saw Jaybreeze come through, followed by Icefire, Sparkpaw, Sagepaw, and, finally, Wolfheart. Mosskit jumped up and went over to deliver the news.

"Yes, Mosskit?" he said as she approached him.

"Dewcloud just declared that Icekit should be able to become an apprentice!" she mewed excitedly. "She just has to wait until she's fully healed." Icekit had been in the nursery for near a moon now, and the other kits were now allowed to become apprentices. Icekit was beginning to heal, and her back leg had mended up completely.

"That's great news! Does she know yet?" Wolfheart asked.

"Ummm... no, not quite yet. Ashpelt told me to wait to tell her until they said I could." Mosskit answered uncertainly.

"Hmm..." her father licked her and then padded over to the fresh kill pile.

Mosskit went back to the medicine den.

"Hi..." came a feeble welcome from a still white pile in a nest of moss.

"Hello, Mosskit." Dewcloud came out from her part of the den. "Okay, Icekit. I think that you should try to sit up now."

"Now?" Icekit squeaked.

"Yes, now."

Mosskit saw her sister flinch as she slowly and cautiously raised herself into a sitting position.

"Yay!" Mosskit said while Dewcloud looked at Icekit with happiness.

"Mosskit, would you like to tell your sister what I already told you?" Dewcloud asked.

"What? Ohhh. Yes!" Mosskit mewed before turning to Icekit, who looked at her questioningly. "You're going to be able to become an apprentice!"

Squeals of joy followed what Mosskit said. "Is it true? Is it true? Can I really still train?!" Icekit mewed to Dewcloud.

"Yes, as long as you heal properly. That's means stop bouncing around!" Dewcloud cuffed Icekit on the ear playfully and purred. Icekit laid down again, trying to conceal her excitement.

"Now Mosskit, come and help me with her poultice. Ashpelt's out collecting herbs at the moment, so you will have to help me." Dewcloud told Mosskit.

Mosskit went over to where Dewcloud had started chewing up goldenrod. She bent down and picked a leaf of it up in her mouth. As she bit into it, the delicious yet terribly bitter juices seeped out into her mouth.

When they finished, they went over to Icekit, who had fallen asleep, and rubbed it on her wounds. She flinched, but did not awaken. Mosskit saw Dewcloud motion with her tail to follow her. Mosskit let her lead her out into the open clearing where cats were sharing tounges quietly. Dewcloud then turned to her.

"As you know, I'm not exactly a young cat anymore." Dewcloud said, and Mosskit looked at the medicine cat. She still looked young and beautiful to her, but she knew that Dewcloud was still one of the oldest cats in ThunderClan. Dewcloud continued. "Ashpelt finished his training long ago, and he deserves a chance as the real medicine cat. I've decided to retire, so he gets that chance. My old bones ache after those journeys to the lake to look for supplies, and soon I won't be able to go at all." Mosskit looked at the medicine cat in amazement, but she did not stop there. "You are the only cat that knows, apart from Ashpelt and Lightningstar. I think that you should know before the others. And you are also ready to become an apprentice soon. Our offer still stands, but follow your own heart."

With that Dewcloud got up and went back into the medicince den.

So she's retiring? Mosskit thought.

She knew that she really wanted to be a medicine cat, and she had spent the last moon helping out there.

"Did Dewcloud tell you, then?" Ashpelt's voice came from behind, and she nodded. "Alright. Here, could you help me get all these dried oak leaves into the den?"

Mosskit turned around and picked up part of the pile that was in front of him. The smell soaked into her scent glands, and she let the smell of them overtake her. She breathed in deeply, then laid them down inside the den neatly by the other herbs.

"Dewcloud? Ashpelt? Ouch." A voice came from the entrance to the den. Mosskit turned to see Shadowbreeze limping toward her.

"What is it?" came Dewcloud's voice.

"Thorn." he winced.

"Alright, we'll get it out. Mosskit, take the thorn out off his paw while I chew up some of this marigold." Dewcloud instructed.

Mosskit approached the warrior. "Let me see the thorn." Shadowbreeze held out his front paw, and Mosskit saw a large thorn embedded in his pad.

"Alright. Hold still." she closed her teeth gently around the thorn and then yanked it out. Shadowbreeze flinched and Mosskit could tell that he was trying to hold back a yelp of pain.

Dewcloud joined them and told Mosskit to rub the poultice onto the wound to stop infection. When Mosskit put the remedy on his paw she saw him relax and breath deeply with content.

"Alright, your good to go." Dewcloud said before the warrior ducked out of the den.

Mosskit waved her tail good bye to Dewcloud and padded out of the den too. She looked up and closed her eyes, breathing in the crisp leaf-fall air. There were few leaves left on the trees, and the nights had grown cold.

Mosskit went over to the fresh kill pile and selected a vole. It wasn't to plump, but it wasn't too skinny either. Mosskit dragged it over to Nightrock and lept up on to it before devouring the piece of prey quickly.

After cleaning her face, she laid down and thought about the day. She realized that while helping Shadowbreeze, she was able to relax and stop worrying about anything that was going wrong. She had felt important, and useful. She knew now what Dewcloud had meant by follow your heart. Her heart was with chervil, with juniper, with Horsetail, and with the art of healing, as was her true talent. She knew now what to do with her life.

She would become a great medicine cat.


	8. Chapter 6

**Please review if you're reading this, just so I know! Thanks!**

Echokit blinked her eyes open. The weak rays of the sun were peeking through the ferns and into the nursery, and Echokit felt the cool morning air come through the brambles and thorns. Ivystream had had her two kits the night before, and when Echokit looked over at them, she saw them nestled up next to their mother. They were so tiny.

Was I ever that small? Echokit thought.

She saw the smallest one shift, as if it knew it was being watched. It was a gold kit with a tint of orange to it's fur, and it stood out against its three littermates. The largest of the others was a dark blue-gray tom, and another she-cat was exactly like Ivystream. The last one was also a she-cat, and had silver fur.

"So you're awake too?" Echokit jumped when she heard her brother's voice. "Come on, let's go see Icekit."

Echokit got up quietly and padded out of the den after Shadowkit.

The sun was showing slightly above the trees, but the air was still chilly. As the two kits made their way across the clearing, Mosskit ran up behind them.

"Don't even think of leaving me behind!" she mewed cheerfully.

As Echokit pushed through the entrance, she heard Icekit meow with joy.

"Yay! You're here early!"

"What are you talking about, Icekit?" came Ashpelt's voice from the back of the den.

"I'm sorry, Ashpelt. Should we come back later?" Echokit mewed. Maybe it was still to early.

"No, your fine. I was just wondering what she was talking about."

Echokit went over to Icekit.

"I'm actually surprised that you haven't died of boredom yet, seeing as your not supposed to move around too much." she said.

"Yeah, I know! I want to_soooo _badly, but no! My leg won't heal properly, and then I won't ever become an apprentice, Dewcloud and Ashpelt say!" she mewed in an outraged tone.

"Well, it's true!" came Ashpelt's voice again.

"Hmph."

"What's going on here?" Dewcloud pushed her way into her den.

"Ah, so that's what you've been out doing." Ashpelt mewed sadly as Dewcloud dropped her mouthful of herbs by the back.

Echokit wondered why he seemed so put out today.

"Yeah, well, I wanted to do it... again."

Now Echokit knew that something was funny, but she also knew that she shouldn't ask. But, fortunately for her, Icekit asked it anyway.

"What do you mean, again?"

"You'll find out later today." Dewcloud purred. "Now, you three. Go do something! Icekit is supposed to be resting."

"Alright." Shadowkit mewed.

"Bye!" said Mosskit.

Echokit nodded respectfully, then followed her littermates out into the clearing, where they play fought for the rest of the day.

a a a

"Let all cat's old enough to catch their own prey gather beneath the Highrock for a Clan meeting!" Lightningstar's mew interrupted Mosskit right when she was about to pounce on her brother, which was a rare thing for her to be able to do before he got her.

She ran to where all the cats were gathering beneath Highrock with Shadowkit chasing her. She saw her father sitting already and sprinted behind him.

"Ha! You can't get past him!" she mewed.

"Yes he can." Wolfheart mewed with a playful glint in his eyes, and got up, leaving Mosskit to fend for herself.

"Hey!" she squeaked. She ducked Shadowkit's outstretched paw as it came toward her face. She crouched down and waited to run under him when he tried to leap on her. Shadowkit knew what she was going to do though, and lept straight up, and Mosskit, who had started to run to where he had been sitting a moment ago, tried to skid to a halt, but was too slow and got the breath knocked out of her as her brother landed on top of her.

"Ha! I win agai-" all of the sudden a dark grey mass hurltled at him and when Mosskit recovered, she saw her father play fighting her brother.

"Come on, Wolfheart! Claw his face off!" she cheered.

"Hey!" protested Shadowkit, as Wolfheart sat of top of him.

"And that is why you never stop to boast." he said before getting off of Shadowkit.

"Well, you're not supposed to-" Shadowkit never finished his sentence because Lightningstar had just emerged from his den and went out on to the Highrock.

"I have good news today." he mewed. "First, Sagepaw and Sparkpaw, please come forward."

The crowd of cats parted and let the two apprentices make their way on to Highrock.

"I call upon our warrior ancestors to look down upon these apprentice's. They have trained hard to learn your noble code, and I commend them to you as warriors in their turn. Sagepaw, Sparkpaw, do you both promise to uphold the warrior code, and to protect and defend this clan, even at the cost of your lives?"

"I do." they both replied solemnly.

"Then by the power of StarClan, I give you your warrior names. Sagepaw, from this moment on, you will be known as Sagestreak. Sparkpaw, from this moment on, you will be known as Sparkpath. We welcome you both as a full warriors of ThunderClan."

"Sagestreak! Sparkpath! Sagestreak! Sparkpath!" Mosskit cheered along with the Clan.

Lightningstar waited until the crowd has quieted down before he continued.

"That's not all of the news, though. Dewcloud, come on up with me." Mosskit already knew what was about to happen.

"Dewcloud has served our Clan for many seasons as a wonderful medicine cat. However, she feels that she is getting too old to keep up with the duties she must do as medicine cat. She has decided to retire and give up her position to Ashpelt."

Gasps of shock came from the cats in the clearing. Mosskit kept looking up at Highrock, waiting for the leader of her Clan to continue.

"Dewcloud, is there anything that you would like to add?" he asked.

"I am proud to of helped my Clanmates for so long, but I am growing old, and Ashpelt has learned everything I know, and more. He will be a great medicine cat for my clan, I am sure. Thank you all for supporting me as your medicine cat for so long, but I know that even by moving in with the elders, my Clan will be safe, and they will always have a medicine cat there to help them." Dewcloud said.

"Thank you, Dewcloud, for all that you have done for this Clan." Lightningstar meowed.

"Dewcloud! Dewcloud! Dewcloud!" Mosskit yelled with the cats around her. For a moment as she watched Dewcloud come down from Highrock, their eyes meant, and Mosskit knew that Dewcloud already knew that she was going to become Ashpelt's apprentice. She nodded, and continued to cheer until cats started to go back to their duties.

a a a

Mosskit awoke with a start. It was two sunrises after Dewcloud retired, and she was going to become an apprentice today! She glanced around, and saw that Shadowkit and Echokit were already up and going. Quietly she got up and raced over to the medicine den.

"Hi, Mosskit! So you're going to become an apprentice today, aren't you?" Ashpelt greeted her at the entrance.

She nodded eagarly then went over to Icekit's nest. She had no idea where Echokit and Shadowkit were if they weren't here, but they would be fine.

"Congratulations! I'm so happy that you're finally becoming an apprentice!" Icekit mewed.

Mosskit was a bit confused. "Are you alright with it? I mean, I can wait for you if you want me too."

"No! I don't want this leg of mine to hold you three back!" Icekit said quickly. When Mosskit looked uncertain, she added, "Really, I'll be fine." she lowered her voice some. "And if I'm right, I'll be seeing more of you around, won't I?"

Mosskit nodded. Was it really that apparent that she liked the medicine den?

"So does that mean that you'll be my apprentice?" Ashpelt's voice came from behind her, making her jump. He had obviously overheard their conversation.

"Yes. I think that training to become a medicine cat is what I really want, and I'm so much better at it than I am at fighting!" she said.

"That's great news! We, that is Dewcloud and I, were both hoping that that would be your decision! I'll go tell Lightningstar now, if you want to stay with your sister." Ashpelt meowed, and when Mosskit nodded, he exited the den.

"So you really are wanting to become a medicine cat?" Icekit asked, her blue eyes wide with amazement.

"Yes, I love all the herbs, and helping other cats makes me feel extremely useful."

"I couldn't do it. I can't stand the taste of those herbs I get each day! And the stuff he puts on me stings!" Icekit said. "Ah, well. I guess that Ashpelt really needs an apprentice like you to help him out, you know, with leaf bare coming up fast and all."

Mosskit thought about it for a moment. Her sister was right. Ashpelt _would_ need a cat that actually liked being a medicine cat to help him with all the sick cats. And a cat like that was hard to find. All the kits always talked about being the best warrior ever, and also talked about how the herbs from the medicine cat will always taste terrible, no matter how much they help with any pain.

Well, she thought, I'm the only cat like that right now.

At that moment she heard a call from the clearing.

"Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather below Highrock for a Clan meeting." rang Lightningstar's voice.

Mosskit suddenly felt sick with nervousness. Icekit apparently saw her face, so she mewed, "Go on! You'll be fine! Go on! Go, go!"

Mosskit tried her best to smile at her before pushing out of the den and seeing all of her Clan come out of their dens to sit beneath Highrock.

She ran over to her mother by the nursery.

"Umm... Mistcloud?" she asked nervously.

"Yes?" her mother was trying hard to flatten Shadowkit's fur, but he was too excited.

"I'm... I'm not going to train to be a warrior." This caught her mother's attention.

"What? But, Mosskit? What will you do?"

"I'm going to be Ashpelt's apprentice." she meowed proudly.

"Oh, Mosskit, that's great!" Mistcloud mewed.

"What?" Shadowkit said.

"I knew it!" exclaimed Echokit, who's silvery fur was neat and flat.

Mistcloud started licking Mosskit.

"There. Now you all look great!"

They went over and sat beneath Highrock and waited for Lightningstar to speak.

"We are here today to welcome three new apprentices to our Clan, and to remember the kit who should be with them, and will be soon." he nodded to Icekit, who had carefully limped out with Ashpelt.

"I call upon my warrior ancestors to look down upon these kits. They have waited long to learn your noble code, and I commend them to you as apprentice's. Do you three promise to uphold the warrior code, and to protect and defend this clan, even at the cost of your lives?"

"I do." they all meowed in unison.

"Then by the power of StarClan, I give you your apprentice names. Shadowkit, from this moment on, until you have earned your warrior name, you will be known as Shadowpaw. Echokit, from this moment on, until you have earned your warrior name, you will be known as Echopaw. And Mosskit, from this moment on, until you have earned your warrior name, you will be known as Mosspaw. We welcome you all as full apprentices of ThunderClan!"

"Shadowpaw! Echopaw! Mosspaw!" Mosspaw swelled up with pride as they called her new name, and almost laughed as she saw Shadowpaw puff out his chest. Echopaw's eyes were glimmering, and she looked jubilant.

"Shadowpaw, your mentor will be Jaybreeze. Jaybreeze, you have shown true knowledge to this Clan, and I hope that you pass on all that you know to this apprentice."

Mosspaw saw her brother touch noses with his new mentor, and cheered for them.

"Echopaw, your mentor will be Icefire. Icefire, you have shown true knowledge to this clan, and I hope that you pass on all that you know to this apprentice."

Echopaw did the same with Icefire, and Mosspaw cheered loudly for her also. Then she took a deep breath. It was her turn.

"Mosspaw, your mentor will be Ashpelt. Ashpelt, your mentor retired just a couple sunrises ago, but I know that I can trust you to teach her all that you know to help your Clan."

Mosspaw leaned forward and touched noses with Ashpelt, who had a happy gleam in his eyes. She was glad that she was his apprentice.

"Mosspaw! Ashpelt! Mosspaw! Ashpelt!" Mosspaw heard the crowd of cats below cheer for her, and above them all were her littermate's voices:

"MOSSPAW!! ASHPELT!!" She almost laughed again. They were randomly throwing the names in off beat.

When the cats started to go back to what they had been doing, Mosspaw headed down to her family.

"Congratulations, you three!" Wolfheart said.

"I can't wait until it's my turn!" Icekit mewed enthusiastically.

"It won't be long." Mistcloud purred. "Well, I guess I'll have to move out of the nursery soon, won't I?"

"You three go see what you can do now. After all, you are apprentices!" Wolfheart meowed proudly.

"Bye!" Mosspaw turned and then remembered. "Come on, Icekit! I've got to take you back!"

"Aw! I thought you'd forgotten, and I wouldn't have to!"

Mosspaw went over to her bad side and propped her up, and then they worked their way to Mosspaw's new den.


	9. Chapter 7

"Ouch!" Icekit winced as her sister put a poultice on her leg.

"Gosh, you complain a lot, don't you? I'm surprised that Ashpelt and Dewcloud could put up with you so long!" Mosspaw mewed grumpily.

"You obviously didn't get much sleep last night!" Icekit retorted. Her sister seemed to ignore this. "Anyway, I'm bored! I still can't jump around, like you!"

"What's going on?" Ashpelt walked into his den.

"She's putting the poultice on, and it stings!"

"Yeah, well you should stop complaining."

"Try to keep your comments to yourself, both of you."

"Sorry, Ashpelt." Mosspaw mumbled.

Icekit didn't see why she should apologize.

"It doesn't matter. Come on now, Icekit. You need to stretch the leg a bit or it won't heal properly." Ashpelt instructed.

Icekit stood up carefully, making sure not to put weight on her injured leg, and limped out of the den with Ashpelt.

She blinked as the bright sunlight hit her eyes. Yesterday had been her first day out in over a moon, and she had just watched her littermate's apprentice ceremonies. She wished that she was with them, but was also happy that they weren't being held back because of her injury.

Icekit wondered what Shadowpaw and Echopaw were doing, and then remembered.

They must be out exploring the territory right now with their new mentors, she thought a bit sadly.

"Your leg is doing well so far." Ashpelt said. "Now, without moving your paws, try and get this piece of moss. Be careful, though. I don't want your leg to get worse."

Icekit looked around for the piece of moss and saw that her sister had come out to watch.

When she spotted the wad of moss, she stuck a front paw out and swiped at it.

"Ugh!" she said when she missed. She tried again, but this time she tried leaning a bit further out, and caught it on a claw.

"Good. Now, fling it at me."

Icekit threw it at him. It hit him square in the nose, and she purred with amusement.

"Great! I think that your leg is coming along nicely! You need to stretch it each day, but gently." Ashpelt said.

"Does she still need the medicine?" Mosspaw asked.

"Yes, until it's almost fully mended it needs the poultice each day." mewed Ashpelt.

"Awww. I hate that stuff, though!" Icekit was put out.

Ashpelt looked amused.

"Come on. You need some rest now."

"But-" Icekit protested.

"No buts. Now, Mosspaw, you take her in while I get some fresh kill for us three." Ashpelt meowed.

"Hmph." Icekit wasn't ready to go in yet. She wanted to stay out here and watch the warriors, who at this time were Pebblepath, Blackwhisper, Cloverleaf, and Swiftfur.

Reluctantly, she limped into the medicine den again and laid down in her moss nest. Ashpelt brought her a skinny mouse, and she gobbled it up quickly.

She became bored again quickly, so she closed her eyes, and a sudden sleepiness fell over her.

a a a

"Shadowpaw! Get up! We have training today!"

Shadowpaw opened his eyes and saw Echopaw leaning over him. Where was he? This wasn't the nursery!

"We're apprentice's!" he mewed rather loudly when he remembered.

"Shut up! Some of us had patrols last night!" Foxpaw groaned. He had been on dawn patrol and had just returned.

"Sorry!" Shadowpaw whispered.

"Come on. Let's get out of here!" Echopaw led him through what was left of the apprentices; some had already left for the day.

Shadowpaw entered the clearing and looked over at the nursery to see a small brown-grey head stick itself out.

"Shrewkit! What are you doing?" he ran over to the small kit.

"Nothing!" Shrewkit mewed.

"Does your mother know that you're trying to come out here?" Echopaw appeared beside Shadowpaw.

"Ummm..."

"Shrewkit? Do you remember what happened to us when _we_decided to sneak out?" Echopaw meowed.

"Yeah... your apprenticeships got delayed and you had to care for the elders for a moon..." he answered, his tail starting to droop.

"You should go back in before Raintear sees you missing." Shadowpaw said.

"I guess..." Shrewkit looked sad, and Shadowpaw started to give in to the small kit.

"You should ask your mother to take you out later today." he mewed.

"Yeah!" the kit started to perk up some. "I'll go ask her now!"

"Wait until she's awake though, or she'll be grumpy with you." Echopaw warned.

"Okay!" the kit mewed dismissively, and he went back into the nursery.

"Are you two done with Shrewkit?"

Shadowpaw and Echopaw whipped their heads around to see Icefire and Jaybreeze sitting a few fox-lengths behind them.

"Because if you are, we'd like to take you out and show you the territory." Icefire finished.

"Yes. We just wanted to make sure that he didn't get hurt or lost." Shadowpaw mewed.

"We're ready to go whenever." Echopaw said.

"Oh really... Have you eaten yet?" Jaybreeze meowed knowingly.

"Well, no... but-"

"Go and eat quickly, then meet us at the entrance to the camp."

Shadowpaw ran over to the fresh kill pile and selected a vole. Echopaw was right behind him.

The prey is getting smaller and smaller each day, he thought. The vole was stringy.

They both ate their food as fast as they could, and then raced to the entrance, where Icefire and Jaybreeze were waiting.

"Good, now let's get going!" Jaybreeze mewed enthusiastically.

Shadowkit followed his mentor out of the camp and up the side of the rock walls that surrounded the camp.

"Alright, here's the plan. We're all going to stay together, and take a tour of the territory. Along the way, if we have the chance, we'll teach you both how to hunt a bit." Icefire mewed.

"Aright."

"Okay!"

"So we'll start by heading toward WindClan territory, then go down to the Ancient Oak." Jaybreeze said, and Icefire nodded, and then started to race through the trees.

Echopaw looked surprised, but she immediately followed her. Jaybreeze went after Echopaw, and Shadowpaw followed his mentor.

Trees were everywhere. Many times Shadowpaw almost crashed into a random tree, and he ofter almost ended up missing a turn. His paws started to tire quickly, and he wondered how much longer they had to go. They were going at a very fast pace, and showed no sign of slowing down.

Shadowpaw tried to concentrate on what he was going through, so he could remember it later, but all he could think was "Over a log, around a tree, through grassy area, under thornbush". His paws were aching, and he was panting hard.

Finally, he heard what he wanted to hear.

"Almost there!" came Jaybreeze's voice from a tail-length ahead.

Finally, he thought.

Moments later they started going through some grassy hills, and Shadowpaw could see Icefire spliting the high grass ahead of them; finally she stopped on the top of a hill.

Shadowpaw collasped next to his sister, who was also panting.

"Maybe not that fast, next time, Icefire?" Jaybreeze said. Shadowpaw noticed that he was breathing deeply himself.

"Whoops, sorry you two! I forgot that you're not used to running so much." she said.

Shadowpaw had recovered mostly and sat up now, waiting for one of the warriors to break the silence. Icefire stood at the highest point of the hill, and Shadowpaw could see that it was quite windy by the way her fur was blowing wildly.

"Come on, let's go up with her." Jaybreeze got to his paws and went up to stand by Icefire.

Shadowpaw followed Echopaw up the rest of the hill, and was amazed when he stepped on to the peak of the hill. The wind was strong, and had the scent of rabbits on it.

Shadowpaw looked down the huge hill. He could see that the grassy plains went out far, with the occasional tree or shrub randomly placed. At the bottom of the hill that they were standing on was a fast running stream. It looked clear and refreshing.

To the left was a patch of trees lots of fox-lengths away. It was on both sides of the creek, but the part on their side went all the way back to the forest, where it joined the rest of the trees.

"That creek is the boundary. The woods on our side our still part of our territory, and the trees on the other side belong to WindClan. WindClan's territory is like this almost everywhere, and they catch mostly rabbits as their prey." Icefire said.

"Come on, let's go down to the creek." Jaybreeze suggested.

They followed him down the hill, and as they got closer, Shadowpaw saw that he had been right. The creek looked clean, clear, and crisp. When he stepped on to the rocky bank he felt smooth cold pebbles under his paws, and when he leaned down to take a sip of the water, a cold blast ran through him, energizing him and waking him up fully. The water was icy, but refreshed him. He lapped more up until the others started back up the hill.

When they arrived at the top again, Shadowpaw was facing the forest, and he saw all of the colors of leaf-fall. Brilliant reds, oranges, and golds were swaying and looked beautiful in the soft breeze.

"All right, the Ancient Oak isn't that far away, so we'll walk there." mewed Jaybreeze.

They headed in the direction of the lake, and the sun rose up above their heads.

Pretty soon Shadowpaw looked up and saw a _huge, _old, oak tree.

"Here we are! This is the Ancient Oak, as you can plainly see!" Icefire said.

"It's _huge!_" Echopaw meowed, looking impressed.

"It's very old. It was here long before Firestar's time, even." Jaybreeze informed them.

"Woah... That _is _really old! That was _seasons_ago!" Shadowpaw meowed. Icefire nodded.

"Come on, let's move on..."

Icefire and Jaybreeze led the new apprentices all across ThunderClan territory, and Shadowpaw was relieved when finally they finished and headed back to camp. The sun was low above the trees, and the coolness was starting to set in.

They entered the camp and looked at their mentors.

"You two are done for the day. You must be exhausted, but don't worry. It will all get easier." Jaybreeze mewed.

"Yes, but for now, go eat then rest. And get to sleep early, we start real training tomorrow." Icefire said. Without waiting for an answer, she turned and went over to where Brackenpelt and Wolfheart were talking.

"She'll do that a lot. You'll just have to get used to it. Now, go on and eat something." Jaybreeze said.

They both nodded, and then padded over to the fresh kill pile and randomly picked something. They were too tired to care.

"I guess we can't eat at Nightrock anymore." Echopaw mewed sadly.

"Yeah, let's go pick another rock." Shadowpaw suggested.

He led the way over to a huge stack of rocks that was outside of the apprentice den. He started climbing rocks, and on the sixth level up selected a nice, smooth rock. It had small dips and was very broad and long, like a platform. He wondered why Lightningstar didn't use it.

"Is this one alright?" he called down to Echopaw.

"Yeah! It looks great!" She jumped up to where he was, and laid down with her fresh kill. Shadowpaw did the same, and pretty soon he had devoured his thrush.

Echopaw had finished before him and walked around the rock a bit.

"Hey! Come look at this!"

Shadowpaw got up and went over to where she was.

"It's like a small cave!" she mewed.

Shadowpaw looked more closely, and saw in the shadows a small carved out area. It was about four cat-lengths deep, three cat-lengths wide, and a bit smaller than two cat-lengths high.

"Come on! Let's take a look!" Shadowpaw suggested, and when Echopaw looked doubtful he added, "It's too dark for any cat to see us. We'll be careful. It can't be bad!"

"Okay. Quickly."

Shadowpaw carefully entered the cave and looked around. The sun was barely out still, so it was quite dark. He saw that the back of the cave curved down, and the rock that was the ground was flat. There were many small crevice's in the walls, and overall it looked safe. He ventured all the way in, with Echopaw following him.

Shadowpaw stuck a paw out and touched the back of the cave. It was cool and smooth. All of a sudden, the rock walls around him started to glow lightly. He whipped around to see what was causing it, and saw that the moon was shining at him. Echopaw looked at him, and for a moment he thought that her bright silver eyes were second and third moons.

"It must reflect off of the walls lightly. This is a great place! When Icekit becomes an apprentice we'll show her it too! It's our secret, though. Mosspaw can know, but I doubt she'll be able to come up here much. " Echopaw mewed, and Shadowpaw nodded his agreement.

Shadowpaw exited the den and started leaping down the rocks, with Echopaw following him.

"Come on. Let's get some sleep." he meowed.

They quietly went into the apprentice's den, and Shadowpaw saw Cinderpaw and Moonpaw look up as they settled down in their nests.

Shadowpaw curled up close next to Echopaw. It was getting colder and colder each night and he often woke up shivering.

He closed his eyes and thought about the day; running through the forest, drinking the water from the icy stream, exploring his territory, and then he touched the walls of a cave, and the walls around him lit up, and swallowed him into a deep, peaceful sleep.


	10. Chapter 8

"Echopaw? Shadowpaw?"

Echopaw opened her eyes sleepily to see Jaybreeze standing in the entrance of the apprentice den, which was empty except for herself and her brother.

"Time to start training. It's almost sunhigh." Jaybreeze said.

Echopaw prodded Shadowpaw, who was still snoring.

"Wasit?" he jerked awake and saw Jaybreeze. "Oh, okay. We'll be right there." He yawned.

Echopaw got to her paws and padded out of the den. She was surprised that it was almost sunhigh, considering that it was still cool out.

When Shadowpaw came out, she went over to where her mentor was talking with Cloverleaf and Pebblepath, passing the fresh kill pile on her way. It occured to her that they hadn't eaten yet, and wondered what they would do about that.

"Good, you two are ready." Icefire mewed as they approached her.

"Yes, but where's Jaybreeze?" Echopaw heard Shadowpaw ask.

"That's a good question." Icefire said.

"I'm here."

Echopaw turned around to see Jaybreeze coming toward them.

"Sorry, I just had to sort something out." he apologized. "Okay, so today we're going to start hunting and fighting techniques. We'll practice in the clearing." He turned around and started toward the entrance of the camp.

Echopaw followed him, and they started heading toward ShadowClan territory. After a while they came to a small, shady, clearing. It was surrounded by trees, and had a sandy ground with patches of earth.

"Alright. first we'll see your hunting poses." Icefire instructed.

Echopaw crouched down and tried to put all of her weight on her hind legs, gently moving her paws forward.

"Good, but Echopaw, you should try and keep your tail a bit higher. What if it brushes against a leaf? And Shadowpaw, put your weight on your hind paws!" Icefire said.

"Those were pretty good tries, since it was your first time, though!" Jaybreeze complimented them. "Now let's see you two try to stalk a mouse, because a mouse will see, hear, or scent you before it feels you, and voles will feel or scent you before they see you."

"What should you do to make sure that your prey doesn't smell you?" Icefire asked.

Echopaw considered it, then said, "Stay downwind. Then you get their scent because the wind is blowing at you, and then they can't smell you!"

"Good. That's exactly right. Now, let's see you two stalk a mouse."

Echopaw got into her hunter's crouch again and very carefully started moving forward, making sure not to make a sound with her paws or tail. She ducked down low so that if there was a mouse she would be hidden in the underbrush, and it wouldn't see her.

"Good again, but both of you need to watch _how_ low you go, to make sure that your belly fur doesn't brush up against anything."

"Now let's try some fighting moves apart. Then we can have them fight each other." Icefire suggested.

"Alright. Shadowpaw, come over here with me." Jaybreeze meowed.

"Let's go over here, Echopaw."

Echopaw followed her mentor into the middle of the clearing. The sand was warm from the direct sunlight. It was after sunhigh, and Echopaw was beginning to get hungry.

"We'll start out with some basics. This one is good for beginners."

Icefire pretended to run at her attacker and slashed her paws into the air at its flank, then she whipped around.

"Now you try." Icefire said.

Echopaw ran and then pretended to rake her paws down her enemy's side before running past it then turning.

"Good, but try not to slow down as you claw them." Icefire meowed. "Try it on me."

Echopaw ran at her mentor and as she was about to pass her, she stuck her paw out and ran it down Icefire's white flank, claws sheathed though. After passing her, she turned around, ready to spring again if needed.

"Much better. I'll teach you another move, but remember that one." Icefire said. "Now watch carefully." She ran at her "enemy" and then ducked under it, pushing herself up once she was under it, then flipped on to her back and pretended to push her hind legs up at her attacker.

"Only try this move on a cat that weighs the same or less than you, otherwise you'll get crushed." Icefire instructed. "Now you try it."

Echopaw copied her move as best she could then sat up.

"Just try to get down lower under your enemy so you can push up harder. Other than that, it was good. Another move is striking your opponent in the head with your paw, but keep your claws sheathed. We don't really need to practice it now, but you can use it against Shadowpaw." Icefire said.

They practiced the moves a bit longer and then went over to Shadowpaw and Jaybreeze.

"Alright, we're ready. Are you two?" Icefire asked Jaybreeze.

"Yes. Alright. The rules are to keep your claws sheathed, and if we tell you to stop, then stop right away." Jaybreeze said.

Echopaw stood and faced her brother.

"Go ahead whenever." Icefire meowed.

Echopaw and Shadowpaw circled each other. Echopaw made sure to keep her concentration on her brother, looking for the slightest give away that he was about to attack. She decided to start, so she ran at him and slipped under him before hoisting herself up, and pushing him off his paws. Then she rolled over quickly and kicked up at him. Shadowpaw went flying into the air, but spun around and landed on his paws.

Before she knew it, Shadowpaw was running at her, so she rolled over again, and when he landed on her she pushed him up again. Echopaw jumped to her feet and went over to where he landed, then she hit his head hard with her paw. He jumped on her and they started rolling around like kits.

"Alright, that's enough."

Echopaw stopped immediately and sprung away from Shadowpaw, her sides heaving.

"Very good for your first tries, but now it's time to return to camp. You two must be ravenous." said Icefire, and Echopaw nodded, still panting and out of breath.

They made their way back to camp, and when they got back Echopaw went straight to the fresh kill pile and selected a mouse. She then headed over to the rock that they had chosen the night before and jumped up the first level, stumbling as her weary paws landed. She carefully scrambled up the rest of the way and then went over to one of the dips and laid down in it. Shadowpaw followed her and sat next to her.

They both gulped down their prey quickly, and then relaxed.

"I wonder what tomorrow will be like." Echopaw meowed.

"I do too, but I know that it'll be great." Shadowpaw replied.

a a a

Echopaw blinked awake as the sun entered the apprentice den. Her paws were throbing, and she doubted that she could get to sleep again. She quietly got up and padded out of the den and over to the medicine den.

As she went, she heard mewling from the nursery, which was near the medicine den. She went over to it instead, and pushed her way inside. It was crazy. She had never realized how hectic it got in the mornings. Whitekit, Snowkit, and Shrewkit were mauling one another, with Lilykit and Redkit, Roseblossom's kits, on the sidelines cheering them on. The queens were talking in the back of the den, and Ivystream was watching her kits.

They could almost walk now, and the dark grey one, Stormkit, was attempting to stand. Sunkit, who was gold-orange was sleeping, unaware that her four littermates were awake. The other three kits were Featherkit, Tidekit, and Heatherkit. Featherkit was silver, Tidekit was a blueish grey, and Heatherkit looked like her mother.

Five kits will be a lot to care for, thought Echokit.

"Hello, Echopaw!" Echopaw felt something smaller than herself slam into her, and she stummbled on her sore paws and slid on to the ground.

"Yay! I knocked an apprentice down!"

Echopaw recognized Redkit's voice boasting from behind her. She turned around right as something cream, grey, and brown slammed into Redkit.

"And I knocked a gloating kit down!" Lilykit mewed happily to her brother.

Redkit ignored her, and Snowkit looked away from them and at Echopaw.

"Hi Echopaw! I thought that you couldn't come back here now that you're an apprentice!"

"Maybe she got moved back down to being a kit again!" Whitekit mewed.

"No! You didn't, did you, Echopaw?" Lilykit mewled with worry.

"No, I just came to say hi. I've missed being the oldest!" she mewed to the kits.

"Yeah, well, we're the oldest now!" said Whitekit, his bright green eyes glowing with enthusiasm.

"You were better! They just pretend they're the best and boss us around!" mewed Shrewkit.

Echopaw laughed. "Do they really? Well, I'll just have to show them that they're not, won't I?"

"Hey, what do you m-O!" Snowkit's suspicious mew was cut short when Echopaw rushed at her and batted her on the head, though not roughly. Echopaw used the moves that she had been taught the previous day to gently fight them. In the end she ended up pinning them both down.

"Let us up!"

"Come on!"

They both struggled, and Echopaw let them up. They sat up and licked their chests a few times, trying to hide their embarrassment.

"How did you _do_that?" mewed Redkit, his gold eyes wide with admiration.

Echopaw spent a while showing the five kits the easier moves she knew, then, after promising to come and visit, went over to the medicine den.

"Hi, Echopaw!" Mosspaw meowed.

"Hey! How's it been here?" she greeted her sister.

"Great! I'm learning all sorts of stuff, and I get to be with Icekit." her sister repiled happily. "How has it been for you?"

"Well, the first day we went around the territory, and yesterday we learned a couple simple battle moves." she meowed.

"Alright. Are you here for any specifc reason?" Mosspaw asked.

"Two, actually. The first is that my paws are throbing, and the second is I wanted to see you two."

"Okay, let's see." she went over to the pile of herbs and selected a couple. "Eat these poppyseeds, and it should go away soon."

Echopaw ate the small seeds, then parted with her sisters, going out into the clearing.

"Echopaw! Come on! We're practicing hunting today!" Icefire yelled to her across the clearing.

"I'll be there soon!" she called, then went over to the apprentice den to wake her brother.

a a a

"You two are doing great! Just try it one more time, and then we can try those moves out for real!"

Echopaw's eyes shined with this praise. Shadowkit and her had been practicing their hunting moves since before sunhigh, and the sun was now about to dip behind the horizon. She was thrilled to know that they would be able to hunt real prey, and not just leaves and grass.

Echopaw crouched down and moved her weight to her hind legs as she had beens doing for the whole day it seemed, and slid her paws forward, pouncing at the last second on a leaf. Her brother was doing the same besides her.

"Great! Now lets go into the woods, and look for prey." Jaybreeze meowed.

Echopaw followed her mentor out into the woods, her ears pricked to pick up any noise more easily. She crept through the undergrowth, with Shadowpaw a few tail-lengths away with his own mentor. Suddenly she caught a scent from under a beach tree. She crept over near it, and saw her prey. It was a vole, glancing around.

Echopaw moved her paws lightly over the forest floor, staying downwind. As she neared it, the vole must have spotted her, because it tried to race under the roots of the beach tree, but Echopaw was too fast, and too determined. She shot forward, catching the vole with her claws. She delivered a quick killing bite, and held her head high, her prey in her mouth.

Now she was truly an apprentice of ThunderClan.


	11. Chapter 9

**Please review! I'm very grateful to those who are! Thank you so much for reading my story!**

Mosspaw awoke to find a paw proding her flank. She looked up to see Ashpelt standing over her. What did he want at this time of night?

"It's about time to go." he meowed.

"Where?" she mumbled.

"To your first gathering, of course!" he shook her some more.

Now Mosspaw remembered. Almost half of a moon had passed since her apprenticeship, and tonight there was a full moon. She rose to her paws, and arched her back, scraping her claws against the thin layer of sand that covered the rocky ground of the medicine den.

"Alright. Now I'm awake," she yawned.

"Let's go and meet the others in the clearing." Ashpelt mewed, already heading out of the den.

Mosspaw stretched one last time, then, after noticing Icekit in a deep sleep, and realized guiltily that she should be coming with her, followed her mentor out into the clearing, where the full orange moon stood glowing above the trees. It was strange, she had never seen the moon this orange before.

Mosspaw shook her head and broke out of her reverie. She padded toward the entrance of the camp, where Shadowpaw and Echopaw ran up to her.

"Hey! Aren't you thrilled?" Shadowpaw mewod. It was so good to hear his voice, as they barely had time to speak too each other.

"Yes. How've you been?" she asked.

"We've been fine. We keep learning new battle and hunting moves, nothing else much. We still have a bit more training to go before we go on patrols." Echopaw answered.

"Yeah, so tonight will be a great change of pace!" Shadowpaw said happily.

"Are you three excited?" a voice came from behind them, and Mosspaw turned to find that Marki had come up behind them.

"Very!" the mewed in unison.

"That's good to hear! We should be-" Marki's mew was cut off as Lightningstar signaled that they would then leave. "going soon..." she finished rather lamely.

"Come on. Let's go," Marki meowed before heading off after her fellow warriors.

Mosspaw raced off after her clanmates, pelting through the forest, and found herself alongside Silvermist.

"Are you nervous?" she asked, still running.

"A little." Mosspaw panted.

"That's normal, and I know that you'll mostly stay with the other medicine cats, but be careful what you say. We don't want to give away any secrets or signs of weaknesses." she advised Mosspaw.

"Alright. I'll be sure to remember that." Mosspaw mewed as they crossed the ThunderClan and WindClan border.

The rest of the journey was hard for Mosspaw. She wasn't quite used to running everywhere yet, as she didn't need to being the medicine cat's apprentice. So when they finally came to a halt in RiverClan's territory, she was relieved.

Mosspaw looked around to gather her surroundings, and saw that there was a huge oak that was laid as a bridge leading to an island that must be where the gathering would take place.

Suddenly Lightningstar leaped up on to the fallen tree and carefully worked his way across it. Then Blackwhisper went after him, followed by Wolfheart, Bearpelt, Moonpaw, Oceanfur, Fernpaw, Icefire, and Brackenpelt. Before she knew it, Mosspaw was the cat nearest to the tree.

"Go on! You'll be fine," Ashpelt's dark outline appeared by her side, along with Shadowpaw and Echopaw. "Just be sure you keep your footing. It can be slippery."

Mosspaw gulped before nodding. She stepped forward to the base of the tree bridge and bundled up all of her energy. She leaped up and landed a bit short, being the smallest apprentice. She used her hind paws, which were hanging under her, to push her way up on to the trunk. For a moment she stood still to catch her breath, until a voice came from behind her.

"Hurry up already! You're keeping the rest of us waiting!" came Sparkpath yelled rudely from the crowd of remaining cats.

Mosspaw shot him an annoyed glance before taking a deep breath and moving a paw foward. The bark was quite slippery under her paws and she looked down to find nothing but air separating the tree from the dark, cold looking waters beneath her. She closed her eyes and then opened them again, thinking better of it.

Slowly, she made her way closer and closer to the bank of the island, where Oceanfur was waiting for her.

Looking up was a mistake. As she set her paw down, it twisted slightly and for fleeting second she was tumbling through the air. Suddenly she felt teeth close around the scruff of her neck and looked up to find a shimmering brown cat pulling her up to where she could grab on to the trunk herself. She used her hind legs to dig her claws into the slippery bark and push herself back up.

Panting, she turned to thank her strange savior, but he was nowhere to be seen. She quickly, but carefully, made her way over to where Oceanfur had leaped up and was now standing on the end of the dangerous tree bridge. She was puzzled, but she jumped down clumsily.

"Are you alright? What happened? It was too fast for anyone to do anything, but I could of sworn that you were doomed. How'd you get yourself back up?" Oceanfur asked curiously.

"Yes, I'm fine. And I don't really know what happened..." Mosspaw trailed off, glancing back over her shoulder to where she had almost met her end to see Ashpelt racing across it. She turned her head and gazed into the dark, forbidding woods.

When Ashpelt leaped down, Mosspaw felt him lick her shoulder.

"I'm glad you're alright." he mewed. Mosspaw just nodded, still in a daze.

Shadowpaw and Echopaw soon joined her, having very carefully crossed themselves.

"Come on. Let's go explore. It smells like we're only the second Clan here." Shadowpaw mewed, nudging Mosspaw forward. She gave in to his suggestion, and pushed into the thickets.

The moon shone through the canopy and sent shivers down her spine. Rocks and bushes around them were glowing, and what wasn't glowing was pitch black. Mosspaw stepped into the moonshine, and immediately felt better. She didn't know why the darkness had affected her so greatly, but then again she was still shaken from that fall.

"It sounds like another clan has just arrived." Echopaw said, and Mosspaw heard more sounds coming from behind them.

"That would be ShadowClan." came Ashpelt's meow from behind them. He turned to Mosspaw and said, "Before the gathering begins, come and find me so I can introduce you to the other medicine cats."

"Alright." Mosspaw agreed, and her mentor went back to where the ShadowClan cats had arrived.

The three apprentices worked their way into the center of the island after exploring some, and saw a buzz of cats, more than they ever dreamed. Mosspaw saw apprentices, elders, and warriors all talking to each other.

"I'm going to go over there." Shadowpaw meowed and went to a bunch of ShadowClan and RiverClan apprentices. Echopaw went over to where elders were telling stories to apprentices, and so Mosspaw was left alone.

"Hi. Who are you?" Mosspaw turned to see that a small brown and black she-cat had approached her.

"Mosspaw. I'm training to be a medicine cat for ThunderClan. What about you?" Mosspaw replied.

"My name is Birdpaw, and I want to be a warrior for ShadowClan." the cat meowed proudly. "So, what's ThunderClan like?"

a a a

While Mosspaw was telling Birdpaw about her life, Echopaw had been listening to the end of a story. Now she was wandering around the swarm of cats, thinking about what she should do now. She didn't have to think for very long, however, because a silver cat had seen her looking around and come up to her.

"Are you a new apprentice?" the silver she-cat asked.

"Is it that obvious?" Echopaw sighed.

"All new apprentices don't know what to do at their first gathering, don't take it personally. I'm Snowpaw, by the way, and I'm in RiverClan." the apprentice said.

"I'm Echopaw. I'm in ThunderClan." Echopaw said.

"How's your apprenticeship going? Do you like it so far?" Snowpaw asked.

"Yes. I've only been training for about half a moon, though." Echopaw answered.

"Yeah, I've been training for almost five moons. I'll be a warriors soon! It get easier after you learn the basics, trust me." Snowpaw said.

"Snowpaw? What are you doing, hanging out with a _ThunderClan_apprentice?" a rude meow interrupted their conversation. Echopaw saw that it was a black and grey tom with another grey RiverClan apprentice.

"That's what gatherings are for. You should know that, Falconpaw." Snowpaw retorted coldly.

"Perhaps, but they're our _enemy._" he said, glaring at Echopaw. Falconpaw whipped around and went over to another group of cats, but his companion stayed.

"Don't mind him. He's just mad because Russetpaw just stood him up." The apprentice laughed, and Echopaw and Snowpaw joined him.

"What's your name?" he asked Echopaw.

"Echopaw. And yours?" she meowed.

"Bouncepaw." he replied smoothly.

Suddenly Echopaw saw cats running into the clearing, and they had a new scent.

"WindClan's here!" Snowpaw confermmed her thought, as a grey tom came over and joined them.

"Hey Creekpaw. How's prey?" Bouncepaw asked.

"Okay, of course. It always seems to be okay. And who are you?" the cat, Creekpaw, turned to Echopaw and asked.

"I'm Echopaw, from ThunderClan. This is my first gathering." she meowed.

"Really? How's it going so far?" he asked curiously, but before Echopaw had a chance to reply, a yowl came from a huge tree, signaling that the gathering was about to begin. Echopaw and the other apprentices sat down and looked up at the tree, where Lightningstar, Russetstar, Darkstar, and Featherstar were each perched on a branch.

Russerstar stepped forward.

"There is news from WindClan." she began. "Prey is running well, and we have a new apprentice. Daisypaw is now training to be a warriors, as of half a moon ago."

Echopaw followed everyone's gaze and stopped on a small cream and honey colored she-cat, whose eyes were glowing with pride.

Russetstar stepped back, and Darkstar took her place.

"ShadowClan has nothing to share." he said briefly, before stepping back into his place.

Lightningstar's turn was next.

"Prey is running well for ThunderClan. We, too, have new apprentices. Shadowpaw, Mosspaw, and Echopaw." he paused.

The cats of all four clans were cheering their names. Echopaw glanced, over at her brother, and wasn't at all surprised to see him puffing out his chest, trying hard to look embarresed, but not quite succeeding. His eyes were sparkling with pride, and his tail was twitching.

She shifted her gaze to Mosspaw. She looked so small compared to all of the other medicine cats. Her eyes were also glowing with pride, but looked uncomfortable under all of the gazes.

Now she relized that it wasn't only her littermates that were being watched. Cats were cheering her on also. She could hear Snowpaw and Bouncepaw besides her, chanting her name, until Lightningstar gave a yowl for silence.

"That is all of ThunderClan's news. Icekit still remains injured, but Mosspaw and Ashpelt continue to care for her." Lightningstar finished, and Featherstar stepped up to say that her clan had no news.

The cats began to break away from their small clumps, and after Echopaw bid goodbye to Snowpaw and Bouncepaw, she headed over to her mentor, who was still talking to some RiverClan and WindClan cats.

"Oh, hi Echopaw!" Icefire said. Echopaw's mentor introduced her to Wildclaw and Swiftclaw, who were from RiverClan, and Loudclaw, who was from WindClan.

"So, how's your training going?" Loudclaw asked.

"Yeah, Icefire's not being to sarcastic with you, is she?" Wildclaw laughed.

"You're not much better!" Swiftclaw mewed back.

"Well, how I see it, you're all mousebrains!" Icefire broke out laughing also.

Lightningstar meowed that it was time for ThunderClan to go, and after Icefire said goodbye to her friends, Echopaw followed her back to the fallen log that acted as a crossing bridge, just in time to see the last ShadowClan cat jump off the other end. She waited untill it was her turn, and then gave a massive leap up on to the log. She carefully put one paw in front of another, and finally jumped down on to the mushy bank.

When Brackenpelt jumped down, ThunderClan raced off into the night, heading back to their camp for what Echopaw thought of as much needed sleep.


End file.
